Like Crazy
by willyoupleasebequiet
Summary: They say that there are three certainties in life: birth, death & taxes. A fourth certainty in Edward & Bella's life is their friendship...okay, five if you include Edward's fixation on seeing her boobs. Inspired by WhatsMyNomDePlume's "Best I Ever Had"
1. Chandler CAN be a girl's name

_**Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly **_

~ Rose Franken, writer

**\\-\\**

**Sunday, 3:11pm**

"Hello?"

"…"

"Helloooooo?"

"Sorry. My sleeve got caught in the phone case. Hold on," Edward said and Bella paused her game. "Okay, fixed. I've always wondered why people do that, by the way."

"Do what?" Bella prompted.

"Drag out their words as if that'll make it easier for the other person to hear them,"Edward remarked.

Edward and Bella

Bella and Edward.

Isabella Marie Swan and Edward Anthony Masen.

"Hmmm," Bella mused. "Maybe it's sort of like when people RAISE THEIR VOICES LIKE THIS WHEN PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SAY. BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY IF YOU YELL, THAT'LL MAKE IT EASIER."

Edward sniggered. "I can't believe you just yelled like that in the middle of Sheep Meadow."

One, 28 years of age and born in June, the other born in September and 29 years of age. One teaches three main sciences, Biology, Physics and Chemistry, at an all boys' boarding school. The other doesn't have a steady job, but gets by doing odd freelance jobs around the city such as telemarketing, working for a moving company, or landscaping.

"How'd you know I'm in Central Park?" a shadow passed over her and Bella looked up, pulling down the hood of her sweatshirt to see who it was. "Because you're standing right in front of me. Hi."

"Hey," Edward grinned and slid his phone shut. Instead of sitting next to her, Edward walked around behind Bella, slipping off his messenger bag from his shoulder, and sat down, pressing against her so that they were back to back.

"Why would you call me if you saw me?" Bella asked, returning her attention to the iPad in her lap.

"I was making sure it was you," Edward answered and tilted his head so that it pushed down on her ponytail. "You're very generic looking. Girl in her late twenties with brown hair, sitting in the middle of a park with her attention fixed on some form of electronic gadget on her lap. They're about a handful of other woman here doing the same thing. Plus, I saw three other girls on the way here wearing the exact same hoodie as you."

When Edward still had a girlfriend, they met in the strangest way, involving a hamster, a bus. They started talking about everything, and bonded over all those things. They even had inside jokes. When Edward and Tanya broke up, they continued talking. They always chatted, almost every day.

"It's because it was on sale," Bella muttered, making an annoyed sound that resonated from her throat. She pushed her back against Edward's so that his head moved so it wasn't pushing down on her ponytail.

Edward took out an apple from his bag, peeled the sticker off and placed it on Bella's handbag that's next to him. He took a bite and then frowned, chewing slowly.

"Are you playing _Angry Birds_?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

Edward and Bella are two extremely good-looking people that often receive double takes, glances over the shoulder while walking down the street, or a lingering (slightly flustered) stare while talking to another person.

This lingered form of staring, or double takes, can become even more pronounced when the pair is in each other's presence. The phrase 'now _there's_ two people that you never thought would be together' often passes through people's minds when Edward and Bella are with each other.

"I can hear the pigs," Edward explained. "Are you hooked yet?"

"Yes. Why can't I stop playing this _stupid_ game? I'm getting more pissed off than the birds," Bella huffed and Edward laughed. "The kids in one of my summer school classes showed it to me yesterday during the lunch break and I haven't stopped since."

The reason that phrase is repeated so much is mainly because Edward and Bella are such opposites.

Bella is attractive, smart, thoughtful, caring, and intelligent. She's the daughter that every parent wants; the girl you can take home to your parents; the student every teacher wishes they had in their class. Essentially, she's the prefect child. Well, as perfect as a child can get..

Like Bella, Edward is also attractive, smart, thoughtful, caring, and intelligent. However, he's the guy that your parents tell you to stay away from because he 'has too many tattoos and piercings;' he was the student that never paid attention at school and distracted others around him, frustrating the teachers.

He's a delinquent; Always has been since an early age with many bad records against his name that includes some minor criminal charges, as well as a short stint in a rehabilitation facility. He has problems with authority, is unable to keep a steady job, smokes too much and constantly makes crude jokes.

He has twenty-three piercings in total—five in one ear, three in the other, his eyebrow, lip, tongue, four that run down the nape of his neck and one on each finger, just above the knuckle. Multicolored tattoos adorn the entirety of his back, the bicep of his right arm and the forearm of his left.

While he may not be 'perfect' or 'ideal' like his friend Bella, Edward is truly a gorgeous, beautiful person, but not in a 'oh, a hot guy' when you pass him kind of way—though he is good looking. He's always polite, has a kind and caring nature (both have the expectation to authority), and has a smile that, when used properly, can be both deadly and helpful in the stickiest of situations (and it has. Countless times.)

None of that matters to Edward and Bella though—not their jobs or how they look. Simply put, they just, work.

"I'm not even good at it, which makes it ten times worse that I cant stop." Bella added with a scoff. "They all kept saying 'you're dong fine! You just have to get the hang of it and then you'll be awesome!' Stupid teenage boys with their stupid, addicting games about pigs."

"Speaking of teenage boys," Edward mumbled with a mouthful of apple and swallowed before continuing. "When are you going to show me your boobs?"

"In a sec. Let me just finish this level."

"Really?"

"_No_." Bella replied firmly, but she's smiling down at the enraged hogs. "Could you BE any more of a creep?"

"Nice," Edward said appreciatively. He held his fist up near his shoulder and Bella bumped him back in return.

Edward's fixation with Bella's breasts is a running joke between the pair that originated from how they met. Specifically, the position: both lying on the sidewalk, Edward on his back, Bella sprawled on _her_ back against his chest with one of Edwards hands latched onto Bella's left breast.

"Well, if there isn't going to be any nipple action, then I may as well leave," Edward sighed melodramatically and Bella just rolled her eyes, still fixating on her game. Having finished his apple, Edward glanced around him, trying to find somewhere to put it. He stood up from the ground and grinned, spotting a place for it.

After stealthily and gingerly depositing the apple core, he moves to stand in front of Bella. She pauses her game and has to squint her eyes when she looks up at Edward, because the sun is in her face. Edward notices her discomfort and shifts to the right so his form blocks out the bright light.

"Thanks," Bella said gratefully and Edward placed his messenger bag back over his head, across his torso. "Hey, before you go, are you free the night of the twenty-fifth?"

"Is that a Saturday?" Edward clarified and Bella nodded. "Nothing…or something very important that I definitely cannot get out of depending on why you're asking if I'm free."

Bella tsked her tongue at him and rummaged around in her bag for a moment before taking something out and handing it over to Edward. "I have a wedding reception invitation that includes a plus one."

"This is for your mom's wedding reception," Edward pointed out, skimming over the invitation. "Which is at The Plaza. Very classy."

Bella shrugged. "My mother is the definition of classiness, you know that," Edward hummed, still looking at the invitation. "So, will you come?"

Like their personality and physical appearance, when it comes to family, the pair is again on separate ends of the scale.

Bella is an only child and comes from a broken family. Her father Charlie, a retired police officer, resides on an island off the coast of Washington state. Her mother lives in Connecticut on a large estate with her soon-to-be husband, a former board member of a popular baseball team.

Bella loves and cares for her parents very much, but as she and her parents get older, she finds that she can only handle them in small, sporadic doses. Specifically her mother.

Edward has no immediate family. Growing up, he was often shifted from family to family across the country because of his out of control behavior. Once an adult, and being used to this somewhat nomadic style of living, he's journeyed from city to city, never staying more than a year in the one place.

He has a vague memory of being told that he has an uncle or a cousin living in Wisconsin. Or Washington. Winnipeg? A distant relative lives somewhere starting with 'W', that's all that Edward is sure of.

"What kind of cake is your mom having?" Edward asked suddenly.

Bella blinked at him and paused for a moment before answering. "Um, well, I don't remember the exact name. But it's some sort of chocolate-"

"Okay. I'll come," Edward interjected, handing back the invitation to a startled Bella.

"Seriously? Because she's having chocolate cake?"

"Wedding cake is very important Bella. You mustn't joke about it," Edward mocked in a snobbish voice and Bella laughed.

"Does that mean you've chosen _your_ wedding cake?" Bella teased.

"Uh, yes," Edward scoffed. "And I've also chosen my dress, plus the color that I want the bridesmaids to wear. I'm thinking something that sits above the knee and in aubergine."

"Ooo, that sounds cute. So it's a summer wedding then?"

"Spring, actually."

"You know what else you should do?" Bella asked.

"What?"

"Watch more _ESPN_," she said flatly and Edward laughed. "No, really. You can flick to it in between watching TLC and the Fashion Channel."

"I'll try," Edward said and glanced around him. "Anyway, I better go. I'll catch up with you later?"

Bella nodded. "Sure. Bye."

Edward turned and started to walk away. Bella watched him take out his iPod from his pocket and unravel his earphones from around it, before remembering her game. With Edward gone and the sun shining in her face again, she flipped up the hood of her sweatshirt to block it out.

And even though Edward's walked far enough to put some distance between them, he can still hear her loud shriek as his apple core falls out of the hood and onto her lap.

**\\-\\**

_I see her turn back before she walks around the corner and I straighten my self up a bit because she's trying to find me between the people on the sidewalk._

_When she finally catches my eye, she mouths, "Thirty minutes."_

_I roll my eyes and pointedly mouth back "Okay," but I'm grinning. She returns my grin and continues walking._

_I'm watching her walk away because she made me promise._

_Two minutes ago we were arguing. We couldn't go back to her place together and she wanted a thirty-minute head start, so I said yes. _

_It doesn't matter that I'm just realizing now that I've never said no to anything she's asked me or the reason why she wants a head start because I don't really care (well, I care a little. I can't think of a reason why she would want a head start.) I'm too busy thinking about the two minutes _before_ we were arguing._

_When her arms were wrapped around my neck and my eyes were closed and her mouth tasted like marzipan frosting. We've kissed before, but__ this time with a purpose and intensity I'd never seen from her in the history of our friendship._

_Now __everything that ever was or wasn't between us is changed and Bella, formerly known as friend, has become something else entirely._

* * *

><p>Okay so, I know no one really reads author notes (I almost always skip them) but I just need say some quick things:<p>

I wrote this fic in about five days, around May last year after reading **WhatsMyNomDePlume'****s** _"Best I Ever Had."_ It was just something silly I wrote to pass the time and didn't think anything would come of it

and now I'm posting it as fan fic lol

**WhatsMyNomDePlume** knows about this fic, in case anyone's wondering. She gave it the green light and has read the first three chapters (which wasn't nerve wracking AT ALL btw, hahaha...*sigh*)

Overall, this is 13 chapters, completely written/beta'd which means updates will be quite frequent. Not sure how frequent just yet, but I'm thinking fortnightly.

**souplover9** fixes my mistakes and is generally made up of all things awesome. If you cut her in half, you'd find rainbows and sunshine and cupcakes inside of her.

(It's okay, I can say that to her. She knows I'm weird. You'll soon find that out as well)

**Next chapter: Edward thinks he's Batman and an Ariel vs. Jasmine debate  
><strong>

_Will xoxo_


	2. Don't put beef in desserts

**Saturday, 5:34pm**

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"You're early," Bella stated through the intercom of her building. "You're not supposed to be here for another forty-five minutes."

Edward answered dryly. "Yeah, well, a certain short, little, _annoying_ someone wanted to come early and forced me along."

"_I'm_ annoying? Speak for yourself," a voice piped up with a scoff and then continued brightly, "hi Bella! I wanted to come and see if you needed any help getting ready. Plus, I _really_ want to see your dress!"

"Oh, my god. I want to see your dress too!" Edward mocked.

"Hey Alice,"Bella said with a laugh and then pressed the button to let them enter the building. She greeted them at her door and Alice oohed and aahed at Bella, while Edward rolled his eyes and brushed past them toward Bella's bedroom.

Edward is familiar with her bedroom because that's where Bella keeps the television, since her apartment doesn't have much of a living room area. They've spent a lot days and nights watching movies on her bed and eating popcorn, noodles, candy or cereal. Basically anything that can be served in a bowl because those are the only dishes she owns.

"It's so pretty," Alice regarded the dress in awe as she and Bella followed Edward into the bedroom. "And I _love_ the color."

Alice is Jasper's girlfriend, and Jasper is Edward's friend. Bella first met Alice when she was invited to her birthday party two years ago, which involved Bella and Edward getting 'friendship married' by Alice. When Edward and Bella started hanging out regularly, she quickly befriended his friends and vice versa. Bella's friends, Rosalie and Emmett, swiftly integrated themselves into the group, and soon all six of them became close and inseparable.

"Yeah?" Bella questioned dubiously and glanced down at herself. Intricately designed, her strapless, floor-length gown was a silver metallic color that was form fitting and flared out slightly around mid thigh. The dress looked fine when she tried it on in the store, but now that she was wearing it at home she was having second thoughts.

"Not that I really care, considering this is my mom's fourth wedding and everything, but you don't think the dress is too, I don't know…" she kicked out the bottom of her dress, flaring out the fabric. "Puffy?"

"Noo," Alice dragged out, shaking her head. "It's fine. You look great." she eyed Bella's head. "What are you doing with your hair?"

"I was thinking of doing some sort of up do," Bella answered and then glanced at herself in the mirror. "But maybe I should decide whether I'm wearing either earrings or a necklace first."

"Hey, Bella—" Edward called out, but was drowned out by Alice.

"Why don't you wear both?" she remarked, going through the jewelry on Bella's dresser.

"It's too much. I'll look overdone," Bella dismissed.

Edward tried getting her attention again, this time waving his arms. "Bella!"

"Not if you got something simple, like studs and a pendant on a chain."

"Hmm. I shouldn't wear any jewelry at all," Bella mused.

"Hello? Bella?"

"_No _jewelry? At all?"

"Maybe just a bracelet then?" Bella compromised and Edward huffed in annoyance.

"Hmm, yeah. Now that I think about it, maybe less is-"

"HEY! DOCTOR SWAN!"

Alice and Bella glanced at Edward, irritated at the interruption from their important discussion.

"What?" Alice demanded, glaring at him.

Edward ignored her and waved the television remote in his hand at Bella. "Something's wrong with your TV. It won't turn on."

"That's because the batteries in the remote are dead," Bella told him and nodded at the TV. "You have to get up and change the channels manually."

Edward glanced thoughtfully at the five feet of distance between where he was sitting on the bed and the TV. "Nah," he said, dropping the remote on the bed. "That's too much effort."

"Too much effort," Alice repeated mockingly, lifting up a pair of Bella's earrings from her jewelry box and inspecting it. "And this country wonders why we have such a problem with obesity. Remember, when there were no remotes, and you had to actually _move _and _stand up_ to change things —"

"And _this_ coming from a woman who spent nearly three hundred dollars on an automatic vacuum cleaner," Edward cut in flatly.

"That's different," Alice sniffed. "I didn't buy my Roomba because I was lazy – I bought it because it saves me time to do other things."

"Things like what?" Edward retorted. "Looking up churches on the Internet to see which ones you haven't vomited in yet? I'll give you a heads up – there's an Episcopalian church about three blocks away from here. You'd like it. Small, but not too small for you to upchuck in –"

"I DID NOT VOMIT IN A CHURCH, YOU IDIOT!" Alice yelled angrily.

Edward shrugged, unfazed. "In a church, against a church – it really doesn't make a difference Alice. You're still going to hell for that."

"Not if I see you there first, gingerhead," Alice snapped, flipping him off.

"You don't have to show me what your IQ is, Alice," Edward told her, eyeing Alice's middle finger. "I already know it."

"You two are just the cutest, you know that?" Bella cut in sarcastically, rolling her eyes before Alice could give her retort. "You called me Doctor Swan," she pointed out to Edward. "That was weird. Only people at school call me that," she said scrunching her face up.

Edward shrugged. "Yeah, 'coz I knew it would get your attention."

In regards to formal education qualifications, Bella has a double degree in education and science as well as a research doctorate, also in science. At sixteen, she's not only the youngest person to have graduated from high school in the history of the small town she grew up in–Forks– but also the third person to get accepted into an Ivy League college. To call Bella a 'nerd' would be polite.

Edward has no formal education qualifications whatsoever. He never went to college or indeed graduated high school, having been too busy spending his teenage years being a delinquent.

"So, anyway," Alice said briskly, directing her attention back to Bella. "You know what you should do? Braids. Oh! Fishtail braid!"

"Noooo—" Edward groaned melodramatically, with his eyes shut and head thrown back. He was abruptly cut off, emitting a soft 'oomph,' when he was poked in the stomach. Edward opened his eyes to find Bella standing in front of him, holding out her iPad.

"Here," she said and then pointed to her fire escape. "If you sit out there, you have a better chance of getting more bars of Wi-Fi from my neighbor. Just be careful of the railing," she warned. "It's loose and if you lean against it you could fall into the traffic on the road."

"I'll keep that in mind for future reference," Alice muttered darkly and Edward made a face at her as he stepped out onto the fire escape and Alice and Bella continued their hair and jewelry discussion. Then, Alice stayed to help Bella with her hair.

"Alice?" Bella prompted, sitting in front of her vanity, watching Alice work on her hair in the mirror.

"Hm?" Alice answered distractedly, keeping her eyes on Bella's hair, still working.

"Why do you and Edward fight so much?" Bella asked.

"Well, why did Biggie hate Tupac?" Alice asked in response, as if that cleared up everything.

"I don't know, why?"

"I don't know why either," Alice said and Bella laughed. "They just did."

"So, who's Biggie and who's Tupac?"

Alice grinned. "I'm Biggie. Edward's Tupac."

"Of course you are," Bella rolled her eyes. "The way you guys fight, it makes it seem as though you might be related, like brother and sister," she noted and then grinned, adding, "or you know – ex boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Ew! BELLA!" Alice exclaimed, looking stricken and Bella laughed, knowing she was going to get a reaction like that with her comment. Alice started spluttering, abandoning Bella's hair. "Edward and me – me and him - that's just – oh my God, I need to bleach my _brain_," she moaned and then smacked Bella on the shoulder with the hairbrush in her hand, because she was still laughing. "Why would SAY something like that?" she wailed.

"What's with all the yelling?" Edward called out from the fire escape and ducked his head back inside Bella's window.

"None of your business!" Alice barked back. She grabbed a hair pin from Bella's dresser and threw it at him, making Bella laughed even harder. "You just stay out there!"

"Hey!" Edward glared angrily at Alice through the glass of the window. "You could've taken out my eye with that thing!"

"Shut up, freak!" Alice snapped at him, launching another hair pin and it pinged against the glass. Edward shot her another withering look before settling back on the fire escape.

"Oh my God, I'm dying," Bella stated breathlessly, still chuckling at the pair and Alice returned her attention to Bella's hair, scowling. "You two are so entertaining, I love it."

Half an hour later, her hair was done, her jewelry was picked out and Alice had left, without saying goodbye to Edward. Bella was putting her shoes on in her bedroom when Edward stepped back inside.

"Wow," Edward remarked, placing her iPad on her bedside table and Bella thought he was commenting on how she looked but then he added, "you really _do_ suck at _Angry Birds_."

Bella made an indignant sound in response. "I don't suck. The game sucks. You suck." She muttered.

Edward chuckled and then his eyes fell on the glass case next to him, his face lighting up at what was inside.

"Hey, it's Pudge! Hey buddy."

"That's not Pudge," Bella said, shaking her head.

"It isn't?" Edward said and then held out the squirming hamster away from him at arms length, making a face at it as if it were a smelly, dirty gym sock. "Then who the hell is this?"

"That's Jeggings."

"_Jeggings_? You named a hamster after stretchy jeans?"

"Yes. It's a cute name," Bella insisted, then gave him an odd look. "And how do you even know what jeggings are?"

"Alice," Edward answered with a shrug. "How else do you think I learnt that aubergine is just a fancy way of saying purple?" Edward placed Jeggings back in the case and frowned at Bella. "Wait…what happened to Pudge?" He asked slowly and then he looked alarmed. "Did you turn him blue like the other one?"

"What? No-"

"Green then?"

"No! His color is still normal and I didn't turn that other hamster blue," Bella added defensively. "It was just a small streak on the fur."

Edward sniggered. "It's funny because you dyed a hamster blue." Bella scowled and he sobered up, but still looked amused. "So if you didn't turn Pudge blue, what happened to him?"

"I gave him to Kate. Who, by the way, told me to tell you that you can visit Pudge anytime you want. But," Bella added, holding up a finger, "if you do, it has to be before eight o'clock. Because that's her bedtime."

"Cute," Edward chuckled. He turned back to Jeggings' case and leaned down to look at the hamster. "I don't think I like Jeggings the hamster all that much."

"You've known him for like, two minutes," Bella pointed out warily.

Edward shrugged, still regarding the hamster. "Yeah, but Pudge was cool. Pudge was awesome. Not like _Jeggings_. Lame ass name for a lame ass hamster."

"Don't be mean," Bella chided and finished fastening on her shoes. She stood up, testing her balance and noticed Edward making faces at Jeggings and tapping the glass of the case, taunting him. "Stop it!" she said with a laugh, making her way over to his side. "You're scaring him."

She tugged on Edward's arm to move him away and he laughed, straightening up so that they were standing in front of each other. There was a moment of silence as Bella openly stared at him, only noticing something now that she's up close that she hadn't before.

"Where's your…what happened to your face?" Bella asked in surprise.

"My face? Oh no, did my nose fall off again?" Edward sighed theatrically. "I hate it when it does that. I need to change to a different brand of nose glue."

"No, you dork. I meant your piercings. They're gone."

Edward nodded. "Yeah. Alice made me take them out on the way here. The ones that can be seen anyway." he explained and then reached into his pocket, taking out what used to be in his ears and eyebrow. "She said I needed to 'look classy.'"

"Classy? It's my mother's _fourth_ wedding," Bella emphasized with a scoff, rolling her eyes. "If she goes for five, it'll either be for free or she'll get bingo."

"Well, Alice has a point. We _are_ going to The Plaza," Edward said and then turned to Bella's full length mirror that was next to them. He squinted at his reflection, adding with a shrug, "plus, I've been thinking of taking out the eyebrow one permanently anyway. Too 1990's."

"You should've just left them in. Alice told me she took you to her tailor for the suit," Bella mentioned, regarding his reflection in the mirror too. "He did a good job. You look really good." Edward wore a solid black wool suit with a white button down shirt. His black oxford shoes were shiny new, a skinny tie with grey detail on it, coordinating with the color of Bella's dress.

"Yeah, that was cool actually. I've never had a tailored suit before," Edward admitted. He brushed imaginary dust from his sleeve and added, "plus, this getup kinda makes me look like Bruce Wayne."

"Yeah, okay Batman," Bella said with a laugh just as a car honk sounded from outside. She peered around Edward to see out the window that looked out on the street in front of her building. "It's Riley with the car my mother sent for us. We should go."

She began to lock up her apartment when Edward stated something.

"That dress makes you look like a shiny mermaid."

Bella froze and glanced down at herself, repeating the word in disbelief. "A _mermaid_?"

"Yeah. You know, like Ariel from _The Little Mermaid_?" Edward offered. Bella was still frozen, trying to add up how much time she had to change her dress, which was none. "It's this fairytale that got made into a Disney movie? There's a lot of singing in it and her two friends are a talking lobster named Sebastian and a fish named Flounder—"

"I _know_ the _The Little Mermaid_!" Bella interjected loudly, sneering at him and then glanced down at herself. "I knew this dress was too puffy," she grumbled and then sighed, deciding to turn Edward's comment into positive thinking. "Well, you know what? Whatever. I don't care if I look like a shiny mermaid. Ariel was the best Disney princess anyway."

"Whoa. What?" Edward said in a flat tone and then shook his head. "No. It goes Jasmine from Aladdin _then_ Ariel from Little Mermaid."

"How?" Bella shot back in disbelief as they made their way out the door and down the stairs.

"Because instead of a pet dog like normal, Jasmine had the tiger."

"So how does that make her better than Ariel?"

"I feel like you're not understanding my words, so I'm gonna say it again," Edward said and then continued, overemphasizing his words. "Pet _tiger_ instead of a pet _dog_. Tiger _trumps_ dog. Because of their _teeth_ and they're _bigger _and they can _roar-_"

"Thank you. I get it," Bella cut in, holding her hand up to stop him and she turned to the driver that's standing beside the black town car parked against the curb. "Hello Riley. How are you?"

"Evening Isabella, Edward." Riley said and Edward nodded back. "I'm doing fine, thank you."

"How is she?" Bella asked.

Riley smiled, opening the car door for them and it was the smile that Bella almost always got at the mention of Renee. "She's her usual self."

"I wouldn't expect anything different," Bella sighed and stepped into the car, Edward following right behind her.

**\\-\\**

_My thirty minutes is up. _

_It's actually been twenty-seven minutes, but I don't care. We seem to be in the same frame of mind anyway because she buzzes me into her building within seconds of me pressing the button._

_My heart is beating erratically. If I were sitting down, my leg would be jittering. I'm eager to see to her. _

_I take the stairs two at a time and now I'm at her door, which flings open before I even have the chance to knock. Again, same frame of mind._

"_Hey," she greets, smiling. "I've put him in the bathroom, so I think he should be—"_

_She cuts off mid sentence because I'm kissing her and she's kissing me back. We're like two teenagers making out two minutes before curfew as though we've got nothing to lose when we've got absolutely everything to lose._

_My hand tangles in her hair, the other on the small of her back and I'm leading her away from the doorway. I hear the door slam shut behind me and then her fingers are digging into my shoulders, reaching for me too. I lift her up and hold her until she wraps her legs around my waist._

_I move my lips to her neck and strain at the buttons on her shirt. She squeezes me and I walk with her, lips still attached, blindly inside her apartment. _

_My heart is pounding against my chest. All my other senses seemed to have disappeared. All I can sense is Bella and how right this moment feels. I swear this indescribable feeling is what I've been waiting for all my life._

_We're crossing a line into something else. Something _other_. Something that will never be the way it was before. And that will be so much better._

* * *

><p>Note about the chapter titles: They're based on some article I read on the Internet called 'Life lessons learned from TV show <em>Friends<em>.' They don't really have any relation to the chapter itself, I just thought it would go with the whole _Friends_ theme that is in the fic.

**souplover9** went over this with a fine toothed comb and gave it back to me with a 'How I Met Your Mother' reference._  
><em>

The reference was pretty great. She's great. Everyone that has alerted, favourited, reviewed or tweeted about this fic is reallyreallyreally great.

**Next chapter: 'Quality' spelling quizzes and impressive dance moves.**

_Will xoxo_**  
><strong>


	3. Say the right name at your wedding

**Saturday, 10:13pm**

"Hello?"

Bella blinked and glanced at the seven year old next to her that's been trying to get her attention for the past minute.

"Yes?" Bella replied in amusement just as Edward returned with two plates weighed down with assorted tarts and cakes.

"Aunty Belly," Kate said whiningly, her eyes wide. "You're not listening to me!"

"Yeah!" Edward echoed as he made himself comfortable on the floor next to them. "Pay attention, Aunty _Belly_."

Bella gave him her Don't You Dare look and then glanced apologetically at Kate. "I'm sorry. I got lost in my head for a moment. Are you done?"

"Yes!" Kate replied, waving her paper around. "That's what I was trying to tell you!"

"Let me see then," Bella took the paper out of Kate's hands. Written in childish scrawl were the letters 'Y-E-S-T-E-R-D-A-Y' with large gaps between each letter. "Correct! Good job Kate," Bella praised and they high fived.

"You're so smart Aunty Belly," Kate stated in adoration and then waved her paper around. "Can I have another word?"

"Sure. Hmmm, let me think," Bella paused, trying to think of a word that was up to seven year old spelling standards. "Okay, I've got one. Spell 'quality.'"

"Qual-ity," Kate repeated slowly and then again, going through the process of sounding out all the syllables out before she put pen to paper.

While Kate tackled her word, Bella warily eyed Edward's dessert spread laid out in front of him.

"Do you _ever_ stop eating?" Bella questioned as she watched him dig into what looked like some sort of chocolate mousse or soufflé.

"I'm exverfiving," Edward replied with his mouth full and Kate giggled. He grinned at her, two of his teeth smeared with chocolate and it made her giggle harder because her crush goes back and forth between Bella and Edward.

The three of them were sitting on the floor near the kitchens of The Grand Ballroom at The Plaza. Bella got bored with talking to her mother's socialite friends and most of the kids Kate's age had gone home, so Bella suggested they go someplace away from everyone.

They weren't hiding exactly, and none of the staff were giving then a second glance, but Bella was happy that no one was paying attention to them. Kate was going through a spelling phase, having won 'Best Speller' that week at school so she was happy that she got to hang with Aunty Belly The Teacher to quiz her on her spelling skills. And Edward was happy because they were sitting near the kitchen so he got to have first dibs on eating whatever came out.

Bella scrunched her face up. "Did you say exercising?" she prompted and Edward nodded, finally swallowing.

"I'm giving my jaw a work out. Jaw-ceps," he said, pointing the tines of his dessert fork at his jawline.

"Jaw-ceps," Bella repeated flatly and squinted at him. "Really? _Really?_"

"Hey," Edward protested, looking indignant. "It takes a lot of hard work to maintain the handsome in this face."

"Done!" Kate announced loudly and then pushed her paper into Bella's face. "Check, check, check!"

"Alright. Let's see," Bella said and then moved the paper so that it was at a normal reading distance. Written on the paper in the similar fashion to the previous word are the letters: 'K-O-A-L-A-T-E-E'.

"Koalatee?" Bella read out loud, puzzled and then laughed, her brain registering the word. "You are too cute for words sometimes, you know that?" she told Kate and then started tickling her. "I'm gonna take you home, cover you up with gummy worms and then eat all your cuteness up. Okay?"

"Noo, aahaha!" Kate shriek laughed, trying to squirm away from Bella. "Edward! Save me!"

"No can dosville, baby doll. No can do." Edward remarked casually, regarding a mini cheesecake in his hand. Bella and Kate were too busy caught up in their laughter and Edward was too busy eating his cheesecake to notice someone approaching them.

"Kate. There you are."

"Dad!" Kate exclaimed and finally escaped Bella's clutches, hugging her father's leg tightly.

"Hey kiddo," Eleazar greeted in amusement, patting her head, and Edward and Bella stood up from the floor brushing themselves off. "So this is where you've been."

"We were spelling!" Kate declared happily.

"She's very good. I can see why she's at the top of her class," Bella told Eleazar and Kate beamed proudly.

"That's my girl," Eleazar remarked and took Kate's hand. "We're about to head home. Your mother's been asking for you."

"Sorry, my fault. I didn't realize Carmen was looking for her," Bella admitted, referring to Kate's mother.

"I meant _your_ mother," Eleazar directed at Bella, smiling gently. "She thinks you've left and gone home."

"Oh. Right," Bella replied nodding slowly as a plan formed in her head.

"Well, we'll see you guys around," Eleazer said, hugging Bella goodbye and then added quietly, "and hopefully it won't be at another one of your mother's weddings."

Bella grinned in response and then bent down, kissing Kate on the cheek. "Bye Kate. Keep up the good work at school."

"See ya later Kate," Edward chimed in, holding out his fist to her and Kate giggled and bumped him back with her tiny fist. "Say hi to Pudge for me."

Eleazar and Kate left and Bella waited until they were a safe distance away before turning back to Edward.

"Did you hear that? My mother thinks we've gone home. Which means we can leave," Bella said urgently, picking up her purse. "Come on. Let's blow this popsicle stand."

"Wait!" Edward grabbed another mini cheesecake from a plate and then shoved it whole into his mouth. He nodded at Bella. "Mmurf mef voo."

"Yeah. Mmurf mef voo to you as well," Bella said, rolling her walked around the corner, joining the rest of the guests, only to bump straight into the person Bella was trying to get away from in the first place.

"Isabella Marie! There you are."

Bella exchanged a very stiff hug and greeted her mother coolly. "Hello mother," Renée is 'mother' when Bella is 'Isabella Marie'.

"I heard someone mention that you and Edward were sitting near the kitchens with Carmen and Eleazar's daughter," Renée declared, kissing Edward on the cheek hello, appearing not to have noticed how puffy his cheeks were, and then peered around the corner. "Where were you sitting? I don't see any chairs."

"That's because they're invisible," Bella remarked mockingly because it was quite obvious where they were sitting. "We were sitting on invisible chairs around an invisible table, eating invisible food."

"It seems like this invisible food came with a side of sarcasm," Renée retorted sharply, and then her face changed into indifference as a waiter approached them with flutes of champagne. Both mother and daughter quickly snatched up a glass each, but Edward shook his head no and the waiter moved on.

In the year that Bella and Edward have been friends, not once has Bella seen Edward with an alcoholic drink of any kind. They tend to stay away from places liked bars, pubs and clubs. If they happen to go someplace that serves alcohol, and it's just the two of them, Bella follows Edward's lead and orders something non-alcoholic. Bella's never asked why he doesn't drink, but has a feeling it's got something to do with him having been in rehab.

"You should really try to be more sociable and perhaps even act your own age, Isabella Marie," Renée said casually, as if she were commenting about the weather instead of scolding her twenty-nine year old daughter.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry mother," Bella said in the same sarcastic tone as before. She knows she's being childish and petulant, but didn't care. "I didn't realize there was an age restriction on being able to sit on the floor."

"If you're not careful Isabella Marie," Renée began and Bella knocked back half her champagne, knowing full well what she should be careful about, "you'll turn into your father." Renée turned to Edward and said in a matter of fact tone, "her father used to do the same thing, kept to himself and always hung out in the back of the room."

Edward just smiled back politely in response while Bella tried to keep her anger under control and not snap her champagne flute in half.

Edward's familiar with the relationship Bella and Renée have-in fact, all of Bella's friends are. Renée sets aside two Sundays a month for brunch with Bella, who always shows up with someone, if not with Edward than with another friend. Bella attends these brunches because she has to and she doesn't enjoy it. Edward doesn't enjoy the brunches either, but he does enjoy the free meal he gets out of it.

"Oh! That reminds me," Renée suddenly said, setting her glass down on the table before placing herself between Edward and Bella, linking her arms through theirs as she walked them forward. "I need to introduce you to someone. One of Phil's friends works in the Department of Education and I mentioned that my fabulous daughter teaches at one the most prestigious schools in the state and-"

Bella dug her heels into the floor, stopping them just beside the dance floor. "No."

Renée's regarded her daughter coolly as Bella stepped away from her. "No? And why not?"

"Because, because…" Bella stammered, trying to come up with a reason. She glanced helplessly at Edward, whose eyes widened at his sudden need of input.

"Uhh, because Bella and I were going to dance…?" Edward declared hesitantly.

"Yes!" Bella agreed, looking relieved and nodded emphatically. "We're going to dance."

"Dance?" Renée repeated in amusement and then laughed in Bella's face. "Since when do _you _dance?"

Bella bristled at her mother's rudeness and was about to let her have it when Edward quickly intervened, taking Bella's hand.

"O-kay! Dancing! Here we go," Edward said in false cheeriness and then led Bella to the center of the dance floor where she started venting.

"God, she's just – she's so – she makes me so mad!" Bella spat out. "You're turning into your father," she imitated and then gritted her teeth. "I _hate_ it when she says stuff like that! And then she wants me, her 'fabulous daughter' to meet some suit that works for the government? So, basically I'm only fabulous when it's convient for her? Ugh!"

Bella ended her tirade with a huff and flexed her fingers. It tightened around another hand and Bella looked to see it clasped with Edwards in the air beside them. Bella glanced down to see Edward's hand on the curve between her waist and her hip, while her other hand resting on his shoulder. She remained silent for a moment, caught off guard by how good a dancer he was. He swept her along the dance floor, guiding her between the other dancers, flowing perfectly with the music, which only added to Bella's irritation. His masterful dancing made her feel flat footed and stiff.

"Stop." Bella demanded sharply. Edward stopped, while the other dancers kept moving around them.

"What's wrong?" he asked and they let go of each other.

Bella jabbed a finger at Edward's chest. "How do you know how to dance?"

Edward rolled his eyes and then regarded her in amusement. "How do _you_ know how to dance?"

"I asked first."

Edward waved a hand at her. "Ladies first."

"Alphabetically,_ you_ should be go first."

"What? B comes before E."

"Alphabetical by surname. Masen comes before Swan."

"Who says we're even going by alphabetical?"

"I do."

They both stared each other down for a moment and Edward caved first, placing his hand back on Bella's hip and took her hand, moving them around the dance floor again.

"In rehab," Edward said quietly. "I learned to dance in rehab."

Bella immediately felt stupid and insensitive. She wanted to be like one of those ventriloquist dolls and have someone put the right words in her mouth to make up for her stupidity.

"Oh, um. That's…strange," she finally remarked pathetically and looked up at Edward, to see if he was annoyed with her, but he seemed unfazed by her rudeness.

"Dance lessons came under 'entertainment and leisure,'" Edward explained, slowing down their pace as the tempo of the music changed. "They also had movies, but the place only stocked ones that were made by Disney."

"So that explains the vast knowledge about Disney princesses then," Bella teased and Edward smiled and squeezed her hand gently.

"Your turn."

"Oh, right," Bella said and then shrugged. "Well, when I was in high school, I used to travel up to Port Angeles from Forks to take extra credit classes for Biology-"

"NERD."

"Yes, okay. I was a nerd," Bella remarked dryly, rolling her eyes and Edward chuckled. "Anyway, my neighbor back in Forks used to teach ballroom dancing and we'd car pool up to Port Angeles together. Her class used to finish an hour after mine and I'd wait for her, reading over the work we just did in class. She hated that, saying I read too much and would throw my textbook to the side, pulling me onto the floor to teach me as well. She was really nice," Bella whispered.

She stared unseeingly over Edward's shoulder, her mind lost in past memories and Edward chose that moment to dip her.

It was an impressive move—one that could only be seen in movies from long ago or on one of those dance competition shows on TV. Other couples on the dance floor acknowledged this, gave them an admiring glance, and one woman was heard saying to her partner: 'why can't _you_ do that to me?'

Edward and Bella don't seem to notice the attention they got, or if they did, they choose to ignore it. The whole moment only lasted ten seconds, but it was an intense moment. Their faces were rather close together, with Edward's nose brushing lightly against Bella's and they were staring straight into each other's eyes when –

Bella cracked up.

She tried not to laugh, mashing her lips together as Edward pulled them upright again but it was hard – small giggles were escaping and her shoulders shook with effort to hold them back.

"That," Edward stated, looking amused, moving them around again, "was not the reaction I was expecting."

"I know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Bella said breathlessly between chuckles, still trying to control her laughter. "I was just caught off guard. Can you do it again?"

"Promise you won't laugh in my face this time?" Edward questioned in mock seriousness.

"Yes. I promise," Bella replied, nodding.

Edward stepped forward and dipped Bella and this time, Bella raised one leg and trusted him enough to give him all her weight as he dipped her.

**\\-\\**

_We're still kissing. It's been going on for a while, at least an hour. We'd kissed all over the kitchen. We'd kissed on the reclining chair in her lounge. We'd kissed on the couch. We'd fallen _off _the couch and kissed on the floor. And now we are kissing on her bed._

_It feels like we're never going to stop. I don't ever want to stop._

_She takes off her shirt. She takes off _my_ shirt._

_My lips are on her face, mouth, neck, and breasts._

_Her fingers are on my hair, face, chest, and back. _

_I take off her pants, then mine._

_Her skin is soft, smooth, and warm. She smells so good, tastes so good, and feels so good._

_I'm touching her. Everywhere._

_And her hands are all over me._

_And this is really happening. Or it is about to happen._

_I'm about to have sex with Bella._

* * *

><p><strong>souplover9<strong> fixes all of my mistakes and whenever I send her silly emails written entirely in all caps, she tells me (very politely) to calm down and be quiet. Not that I listen. I send her shout-y caps emails at least twice a week...

You guys are all brilliant and wonderful and deserve all the mini cheesecakes, chocolate soufflé's and gummy worms in the world.

**Next chapter:**** Edward and Bella get some frozen yoghurt & then make out.**

_Will xoxo_


	4. The cushion is the essence of the chair

**Sunday****, 1:20pm**

"Hello?"

"You sent me three words–one of them is 'the' and the other two have the numbers five and seven in them. What the hell Bella?"

"That's what you get for making me text," Bella grumbled, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder. "You know I don't text."

Edward huffed. "I thought you would've learned by now."

"Well, I haven't. And I don't plan to either."

"Ugh, fine," Edward muttered. "Anyway. Like I said in my message – guess what I have?"

"Um…syphilis?" Bella asked innocently.

"What? No," Edward said with a sneer and then continued. "You know that zombie movie that we were talking about last week and how we were bummed about how hard it is to find a copy anywhere?"

"Oh my God," Bella remarked in a hushed tone, eyes wide. "Are you about to say what I think you're about to say?"

"Yes Bella, I think I am," Edward said in mock seriousness. "I was talking to one of the guys from work about the movie yesterday and he said he had a copy at home that he could lend me overnight."

"He gave it to you? Just like that?" Bella asked surprised. "Does he not know the _awesomeness _that makes this movie so rare to find?"

"Actually, he does. He said he would only lend it to me in exchange for covering his shift next weekend."

"You said yes, right?" Bella prompted seriously. "RIGHT?"

"Wow. Your voice went really high just then," Edward commented and she rolled her eyes, huffing in impatience for an answer. "Yes, I agreed to cover his shift next weekend. The movie is on VHS, so we gotta watch it at your place," he added. "What are you doing later?"

"I'm catching up with the girls at three, so I probably won't be home until seven," Bella said, thinking out loud. "Is that too late?"

"Nah, its fine. You want me to bring dinner?"

"Yes please. Ooh! Can you go to that place that we went to last time with the rice?"

"The rice…" Edward repeated slowly. "Yeah, that's not vague at all Bella."

"Remember? The rice. It was the sticky kind and we ate it and it was y'know...white and stuff," Bella mumbled, unable to come up with any other specifics.

"Oh," Edward said suddenly. "You mean the place that has the green fish tank?"

"Yes! Green fish tank place!" Bella exclaimed triumphantly and Edward laughed. "How awesome is our friendship that you got 'green fish tank place' from 'rice?'"

"Pretty awesome," Edward agreed. "We should get matching t-shirts made."

"We should totally do that," Bella said seriously.

"Alright awesome friend, I gotta go. See you at seven?"

"Better make it half past seven, just in case."

"Okay. Bye Bella."

"Bye."

**\\-\\**

"Hey, Bella."

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know that if _I _ever became a zombie, you can definitely shoot me in the head."

Bella nodded slowly with her eyes still on the screen, watching the end of movie credits. "And what if you weren't a zombie? Can I still shoot you in the head?"

"Oh, then please don't," Edward said in exaggerated seriousness and Bella laughed, moving the bowl sitting between them to the night stand beside her.

The two of them sat in their usual movie viewing position: side by side, legs stretched out, and their backs propped up against the headboard of Bella's bed with a bowls of food between them. Tonight's menu consisted of noodles from the green fish tank place with empty cans of Coke adorning her nightstands – diet on Bella's side, full sugar on Edwards.

Bella stretched, lifting her arms behind her back, her limbs popping from being in the same position for too long. "What do you want to do now?"

Edward shrugged. "I dunno. What do you wanna do?"

Bella raised her eyebrows at him. "I dunno. What do _you_ wanna do?"

"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"

"Alright. Enough," Bella said and then yawned. "Pick something before I get too comfy and can't be bothered to do anything."

"Hmmm. What time is it?" Edward mused and then took out his cell phone from his jean pocket and glanced at the time on the screen. "Nine thirteen," he read and then glanced questionably at Bella. "Still hungry?"

Bella shrugged. "I could eat. Dessert doesn't sound so bad."

"Pinkberry's or Max Brenner?"

"Which is closer if we walk?" Bella prompted.

"Pinkberry's." Edward answered.

"Fro-yo it is then," Bella stated, getting off the bed. "You're so smart, Foogle." she added teasingly and Edward scrunched his face up at the term.

Edward has a vast and extensive knowledge about all things food outlet related–from Krispy Kreme to Dennys–all off the top of his head. He can tell you what street it is on, what the opening and closing times are, how long it takes to get there and which method of transportation is the most convenient. He's the food version of Google: Foogle.

**\\-\\**

With Pinkberry's being near closing, Edward and Bella managed to get in and out within five minutes. They began making their way back home, taking their time. Edward inhaled his lychee and lime juice frozen yoghurt in under two minutes while Bella was taking small, dainty bites of her own chocolate and raspberry frozen yoghurt.

"A bus! Look out!" Edward suddenly said and then flung his arms out, creating a makeshift cage around Bella as a bus roared past them on the road.

Bella gritted her teeth and gave him one of those pinches on the arm where you pull the skin up between your fingers and twist.

"Ah! Fu–!" Edward jerked away from her, laughing. "Shit, Bella. That's gonna bruise."

"Are you going to do that _every_ time we're out in public and a bus passes us?" she snapped at him.

"Every time," Edward said cheerfully.

"I hate you," Bella scowled, shoving a spoonful of yoghurt into her mouth.

"That reminds me. Did I ever tell you about Bigaskis?" Edward stated suddenly.

"Big what?" Bella asked in bewilderment, thinking that she heard him wrong.

"Not what. Who. Marcus Bigaskis. He was one of your mom's friends at the wedding last week and–"

"Hold on," Bella interjected. "His last name is Bigaskis?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He's Swedish."

"Pronounced 'big-ass-kiss?'" Bella asked, enunciating the word in her best imitation of a Swedish accent. "Like, 'Mar-cus Big-ass-kiss?'"

"Yes. And why are you speaking in a Jamaican accent?"

"Big-ass-kiss," Bella giggled and Edward rolled his eyes, but laughed lightly too. "So, anyway," she continued, "what about him?"

"He asked how you and I know each other. So I told the story and he was very impressed," Edward remarked casually.

"But…there's nothing impressive about how we know each other," Bella said in confusion.

"Well, it is impressive if you tell the story about how we met," Edward stated and she frowned, not following so he continued, "how a crazy man put a bomb on the bus you were driving and if you went below fifty miles an hour, the bus would blow up. This never happens, because I save your life. Oh, and some where in the middle of that, we jump over a bridge on an interstate road."

Bella's jaw unhinged as she stared at him.

"I know. How awesome am I?" Edward said smugly.

"Okay, two things–" Bella began and held up one finger. "One, that's not even _remotely_ close to how we met. And two," she lifted a second finger and paused, trying to think. "Why does that story sound so familiar to me?"

"It's the plotline to the movie _Speed_."

"_Speed!_ That's it!" Bella exclaimed in realization. "I knew it sounded familiar. How did Bigaskis not recognize it when you were telling him?"

Edward shrugged. "Maybe Keanu Reeves isn't so big in Sweden."

"I bet that's what makes Keanu so sad all the time."

"Hold on. What do mean, that's not even remotely close to how we met?" Edward asked with a frown.

"Um, because it's not?" Bella stated in a 'duh' like tone.

"It is. Kind of," Edward added at Bella's expression. "Technically, there was a bus involved and technically, I did save your life and–"

"Technically, there could've been a bomb on that bus?" Bella finished.

"Yes. Technically." Edward repeated with a nod. "Anyway. _Mrs_. Bigaskis got all swoony, saying it would be a great story to tell our kids one day."

Bella laughed around her spoon in her mouth as she took another bite. "Our kids," she repeated in amusement. "That's funny."

"I know." Edward agreed with a snicker.

Their amusement to the 'kids' statement made Bella think, and the next minute or so of their walk home were spent in silence, as she got lost in her thoughts. One train of thought led to another train of thought, then another thought and then another, which then prompted Bella to ask:

"Have you ever thought about that?"

"About what? Mrs. Bigaskis?" Edward looked confused. "That's a weird question. Why would I–"

"No." Bella rolled her eyes. "Have you ever thought about us being together?"

"Oh. Honestly?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, I've thought about us being together," Edward answered truthfully.

Bella's eyes went wide and her eyebrows went up. "You have? In what way?"

"In a bad way. Kinda," he added with a shrug.

"Kinda? What does that mean?"

"It wouldn't work. You and me as a couple, I mean," Edward stated, gesturing with his hand to the space between them. "And that whole 'friends to something more' theory never works out anyway."

"Yes it does," Bella countered defensively.

Edward scoffed. "With who? Give me an example."

"Uhm…" Bella lifted her shoulders, trying to think of someone on the spot and said hesitantly, "Monica and Chandler?"

"Mondler? Really? They're fictional." Edward squinted at her and then shrugged. "Okay, fine. But that was a one off with those two. Also? I think that we'd be more like Rachel and Joey than Monica and Chandler if we got together."

"I hated that season!" Bella said loudly. "The writers were so stupid putting Rachel and Joey together. It was pointless, made no sense and a disaster right from the beginning. Rachel and Ross forever. FOR. EV. ER." she sounded out, her voice too loud and people passing by stared.

"O-kay." Edward said, taking the yoghurt from Bella's hands. "No more late night yoghurt runs for you, crazy _Friends_ fan."

Bella didn't protest as he threw her yoghurt in the trash as she, again, got lost in her head. She thought about Rachel and Joey–how Joey developed feelings for Rachel, but she didn't feel the same way and things got awkward between the pair. And then she thought about Monica and Chandler and how great those two were together, even in that alternative reality episode when Monica got fat, they still end up falling in love.

"Do you really think we'd end up like Rachel and Joey?" Bella asked quietly.

"Yes," Edward emphasized, sighing. "I'm ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-_nine_ percent sure we'd up like them. Pointless, no sense and a disaster, like you said."

"But there's still a zero-point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-_one _percent chance we could be Monica and Chandler," Bella declared with a smirk and they stopped, reaching as far as they can go walking together. Bella needed to head straight for her home and Edward needed to turn left for his.

"Bella," Edward began and ran a hand over his chin and stared at a sign that said _'Public photography installation in process.'_ "Don't take this the wrong way but…you're not my type," Edward pointed out, looking hesitant and then added, "and judging by the kind of guys you date, I'm going to take a guess and say I'm not your type either."

This is true. Edward is into leggy blondes that are more on a par with his level of intelligence – Bella is petite, brunette and has two degrees from Harvard, one of which being a doctorate.

Bella is into clean cut, athletic guys that are around her height – Edward stands at around six and a half feet, has a constant five o clock shadow; he is skinny but lean, has multiple piercings and tattoos and his wardrobe consists of wrinkled shirts, hooded sweatshirts and jeans.

"You have a point," Bella agreed and then added stubbornly, "but when Monica got fat, Chandler _still_ fell in love with her!"

"I – what? I never called you fat," Edward said in bewilderment, not understanding.

"Never mind," Bella muttered, and then watched someone with a camera, presumably the photographer working on the installation, trying to artistically take a photo of a lamppost across the street from them.

She knew it was silly, and she agreed with everything he's said, but Bella was a little saddened and also somewhat rejected by Edwards strong opposition to them being together. She sighed, hitching her purse up higher on her shoulder. "It's late and we should go home. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight Edward."

Bella began to walk away when Edward pulled her back by the elbow saying, "hold on, hold on. Wait a sec."

"Relax Edward," Bella said, rolling her eyes. "I know you weren't calling me fat–"

"I wasn't. Because you're not," Edward said firmly, giving her a look and then shook his head once. "I just thought of a way to prove to you that we wouldn't work as a couple. Because I know you well enough that you're stubborn and won't let this go."

Again, this was true. Bella opened her mouth to argue but then thought better of it, realizing that he was right. "Alright. How are you going to prove it?" Bella asked, intrigued.

Edward took a step closer to her and exhaled. "Okay. So, on the show Monica and Chandler became something more than friends by sleeping with each other – wait! Let me finish," he said quickly, seeing the look of disbelief on Bella's face. "But I don't think we should do that," he emphasized and then declared cautiously, "so why don't we kiss instead?"

Out of all the things she thought Edward would say, suggesting that the two of them to kiss wasn't one of them. "A kiss," Bella remarked slowly, eyebrows raised. "You and me?"

"No, by we I meant me and the blue van that's parked behind you. It wants me bad, I can tell."

Bella gave him a droll look before mulling over his preposition for a moment. A kiss with Edward. She could do that. They were both adults, they know what they were doing. It wasn't like they were doing it for the wrong reasons—they were doing it to prove a theory, and as a doctor of science, she could get on board with that.

Edward was getting impatient. "Well?"

"I'm thinking!" Bella said and then flipped her hair over her shoulder, taking a breath to steel herself and nodded. "Okay, yes. We can kiss."

"Okay," Edward echoed, nodding. He moved towards her again, this time stepping into her space, when Bella realized something.

"WAIT!"

Edward flinched. "Jesus Bella. You don't have to yell, I'm right here."

"Sorry," she whispered, sheepish. "It's just – by your definition, if we're Rachel and Joey then this kiss should be awkward and uncomfortable. Right?"

"You're stalling," Edward pointed out and then nodded once. "But yes. Awkward and uncomfortable is what I'm trying to prove to you."

"What if it isn't though?" Bella again whispered, staring at Edward's mouth. "What if the kiss is really good and we end up like Monica and Chandler instead?"

Edward, also staring at her mouth, shrugged one shoulder in response. "Well, then I get dibs on being Monica because she was the hot one."

Bella stuttered out a laugh before Edward closed whatever distance was left between them. It was a light, chaste kiss and neither of them closed their eyes. But then the kiss changed, it turned deep and strong. Bella had the dim awareness that her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, one hand buried in his hair and that Edward's arms were wrapped around her so that their bodies are pressed together.

If anyone around them were watching, they would think that it's sweet for two people to be unable to keep their hands off each other. Either that, or they're huge abusers of PDA and should probably get a room.

This kiss is neither of those things for Edward and Bella.

They pulled away from each other, both breathless, and Edward was the one to speak first.

"This is never going to work is it?"

"No way, no how." Bella gasped out. They both push the other away as well as taking more than a couple of steps back, the two voicing their horror and outrage about the kiss.

"Nope. Too weird, too weird," Edward chanted, grimacing and shaking his head.

"God, that was awful," Bella shuddered, and rubbed at her lips with the back of her hand, not even trying to be subtle about it. "Ugh, there is so much metal in your mouth! How do women kiss you?"

"They kiss me just fine," Edward shot back. "And anyway," he added, making a face, "_you're_ the one that uses way too much tongue."

Bella gasped, looking indignant. "I do NOT use too much tongue!"

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Argh, shut up. Shut up!" Bella snapped at him and dug the heels of her palms into her eyes. "God, that was like, the opposite of what a kiss should be. No weak knees, blood racing or fireworks going off."

"My knees are strong, same goes for my heart and that was more like spurts than fireworks."

Bella dropped her hands and pulled a 'yuck face' at Edward. "Spurts? Ew, I hate that word."

"Yeah, I know, I just heard it," Edward muttered, his face pinched. "That was weird. I'm not saying that again."

Bella laughed and it broke the tension, relaxing them both. The two smile warily at each other and move so that they weren't standing a mile apart.

"Still friends?" Edward asked, his expression half joking, half serious.

"Best friends," Bella answered teasingly and they fist-bumped. She was about to add another comment about the cheesy moment they were having when Edward let out a loud groan and slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Dammit!"

"What? What's wrong?" Bella demanded in alarm.

"I just made out with you and I didn't even cop a feel," Edward bemoaned, tugging at his hair.

"You're an idiot," Bella tsked at him, but couldn't hide her amusement at his reaction. "Here. A consolation prize for you then."

She took hold Edward's hands, pressed them to her chest for less than a second and then dropped them back down quickly. Edward glanced down at his hands, then back to Bella and then down to his hands again.

"You're not wearing a bra."

"No, I'm not."

Edward sighed, now gazing at his hands with a somewhat adoring expression, and Bella stopped him before he could say anything.

"Don't," Bella said sternly. "Don't even. Just turn around and go home Edward."

"Fine. You missed out on a good line though," Edward told her and then shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and started to walk backward, a teasing smile on his face. "Good night…Rachel."

"Good night Joey," Bella replied in amusement, and they both turned and made their way to their respective homes.

**\\-\\**

_We've stopped kissing. _

_Bella and I lie there facing each other and I hope I seem calm about the fact we're about to have sex. _

"_You okay babygirl?" _

_Babygirl? Why did I just call her that? She would hate that kind of thing. Don't pick up on it…_

_She touches my face, smiles. "Yes. If you are," her smile fades and she looks confused. "Babygirl?"_

_I knew it. Dammit. I bury my face in her neck, kissing it and say, "yeah. It's your new nickname."_

_"Ahh, metal, cold," She laughs, squirming slightly and her mouth is close enough that I can feel her smile. "And you can't call me babygirl. That's the worst nickname."_

"_Okay, honey," she shakes her head and I can imagine the look on her face. "No? Pumpkin? Angel? Babe? Darlin, chicky babe? Cocoa puff? Poppet?"_

_She laughs and I kiss her neck again. "Doll? Hunny bunny?"_

"_Enough." She says, still laughing as she pushes her hands in my hair._

"_Petal."_

_She tugs on my hair, bringing our faces together again and we go back to kissing. Very slowly at first, then even more urgently than before. Her breathing is quick, sexy._

"_Okay," I sigh when we finally pull apart. "__I've just got to go somewhere. I'll be back in a minute."_

"_Where?" she asks, alarmed._

_Then I'm moving down, down, kissing her stomach as I go, peeling her underwear off her. Then my mouth is on her and a new sound enters my life. __I'm hearing the sound Bella Swan makes because of what _I'm_ doing to her. It's a good sound, a great one, and I know that it's the type of music I want to hear for the rest of my life._

* * *

><p>I don't know if there's such a thing as having a <em>need<em> to pinch someone, but if you ever find yourself in that position - pulling the skin and twisting it is the way to go.

****souplover9** **makes this fic presentable. If she were ever to became a zombie, I wouldn't even _think_ about shooting her.

Thank you to everyone for reading, reviewing and being all round amazing. If _you_ guys all became zombies, I wouldn't shoot you either. Promise :)

**Next chapter: ****We go back in t****ime a little to Edward and Bella being complete strangers and going to 2nd base.**

_Will xoxo_


	5. When moving a couch upstairs, PIVOT!

**\\-\\**

_Seeing Bella come for the first time is everything good in this world, and I know that there is nothing better than making that happen. _

_Nothing and nowhere better than being here, with her._

**\\-\\**

**Saturday****, 8:52am**

_**One year previously…**_

"Hello?"

"Uh, hi," the person replied, sounding off guard and then cleared their throat. "Could I speak to Tanya Ferguson please?"

"Sure." Edward moved the phone so he could look at the screen. '_Unknown'_ it put the phone back to his ear. "May I ask whose calling?"

"This is Mr. Smith. Clair's father," the caller said, but there was a slight edge to his tone.

"Please hold," Edward said and then pressed the 'hold' button on the phone. He glanced down at the body curled against him and nudged it gently. "Tan….Tanya. Wake up." Nothing. He nudged her again. "Tan. Tan? …Tanya. Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya – AHH!"

"That," Tanya mumbled and retracted her nails from Edward's side, sluggishly sitting up straight,, "is what you get for being so annoying this early."

"A Mr. Smith is on the phone for you," Edward mumbled, rubbing his stomach and Tanya grimaced. Edward held the phone out to her, but then pulled back when she tried to reach for it. She gave Edward a wary glance and then reached for it again, but Edward pulled it back even further out of her reach.

"Edward. Quit it," Tanya remarked impatiently, reaching for the phone but only grasped thin air again. She let out a sigh and her face softened as she pressed her forehead against Edward's head. "Sorry. I'm sorry I tried to claw your stomach out. Literally."

"It's okay," Edward said petulantly, handing her the phone. Tanya took it, kissed him on the cheek and then finally answered the call.

"Hello, Mr. Smith? Sorry about the wait. I was vacuuming and my boyfriend was finding it difficult in getting my attention over the noise…"

Her voice faded as she left the bedroom and Edward rolled over on his stomach, pressing Tanya's pillow to his face. He stayed liked that for about a minute before getting up.

By the time Tanya had finished her phone call, Edward had gotten dressed and was in the kitchen. He stood against the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of cereal when she walked in, moving to stand next to him. He had a spoonful of cereal moving toward his mouth when Tanya grabbed his hand and directed it to her mouth.

"Hey!" Edward protested and Tanya pulled back, grimacing as she chewed.

"What is that, Count Chocula?" she questioned in distaste and he nodded. "Since when do eat that?"

"Since I read somewhere that eating it can turn you into a vampire. I've always wanted to be one, but shhh, don't tell anybody."

"You would make a good vampire." Tanya replied nonchalantly. She was used to how strange, and random, her boyfriend could be at times.

"I would make an _awesome_ vampire," Edward corrected, looking at her in mock offense.

Tanya smiled and then leaned against him and began to fiddle with the cord string from the hood of his sweatshirt. "You shouldn't have answered my phone."

"Oh," Edward said, staring into his bowl. "Well, I was already awake and it was buzzing next to my head, so –"

"No. I mean, you can answer my phone, whatever, I don't care," Tanya amended, realizing how she had sounded. "I just meant you shouldn't have answered my phone because then I wouldn't have to leave and not feel like a crappy girlfriend for bailing on you."

"It's Saturday, your day off," Edward pointed out, pushing the remnants of his cereal around with his spoon. "Why can't they look after their own kid for one day? You do it every other day of the week."

"True," Tanya agreed. "And now I have to spend the day entertaining their little, snot nosed kid while the parents are out at some fancy luncheon," she sighed. "I have no idea why these people chose to have a kid in the first place."

Edward finished off his cereal and then placed the bowl behind him on the counter. He shifted so that he could wrap his arm around Tanya's shoulders, pulling her into his side and then kissed the top of her head.

"I'll make it up to you," Tanya told him, hugging him sideways. "Naked apology?"

Edward hummed into her hair. "Naked apologies are the best kind of apologies."

Tanya laughed lightly and then stretched up to Edward's face. He ducked down but she moved at the last minute, kissing his cheek instead and Edward fought to keep his annoyance off his face.

"I'm gonna go get dressed," Tanya declared, stepping out of their embrace. "Walk me to the subway?"

Edward nodded, giving her a brief smile. "Yeah, sure."

**\\-\\**

_We've stopped touching each other for the first time since I've walked in—Bella to catch her breath, and me to wipe my mouth__ on the bed sheet that got pushed down. Then my mouth is on her skin following the same path as before, but in reverse, over the curves and angles of her hips, ribcage and collarbone until I'm looking down at her again. She's shiny eyed and smiles, slowly and beautifully and it elates me that I put that smile there._

_She lifts her head. Her lips brush lightly against mine—we aren't kissing,__ but the lust rises up hot and fierce. Her legs wrap around my waist, forcing her hips against me and I push forward at the same time that our mouths connect, and our hands__ have minds of their own – my fingers…hers…scratching, searching, kneading._

**\\-\\**

Half an hour later, Edward and Tanya had left his apartment and walked hand in hand toward the nearest subway station. They turned into a street lined with eateries and shops busy with the breakfast rush and Tanya stopped in front of one shop just on the corner.

"I just remembered," Tanya said, tugging on Edward's hand to stop him and then let go. "I need to buy batteries for one of Clair's toys that died the other day. I'll be two seconds."

Edward nodded. "I'll wait for you out here."

The subway station was opposite the shop. Edward leaned against the railing of the staircase that led underground, shoved his hands into his pockets and watched passerbyers. A crowd of people appeared from the station below, swarming around him and waited to cross the street. The pedestrian light had just turned green and the crowd thinned as people moved away from Edward.

Just moments after the light turned red, a woman darted up the subway stairs, and on the now empty sidewalk,. She seemed to be in a hurry because she didn't look both ways before crossing the street, so she missed the bus that was rounding the corner—, which was less than a car length away from plowing into her. Edward, thinking quickly, pulled the woman back from the curb and into safety.

His impeccable act of heroism saved her life– except for the part where Edward lost his footing and tried to catch himself and failed. They both fell against the pavement, the woman's back against Edward with his hands latched onto to the woman's chest.

The two froze for a split second, the bus roaring past them, before the woman let out an indignant squawk and pushed Edward's hands off her breasts.

"What the hell do you think you're _doing_?" the woman exclaimed as she scrambled to stand up.

"Shit," Edward said as he stood up. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry–"

"Jesus!" the woman spluttered out, straightening her clothes. "You can't just – your hands on my –"

"That wasn't on purpose!" Edward interjected, holding his hands up and then dropped them. "I swear, I didn't mean to grab you there…like that. I'm sorry."

Edward then realized what he had just done and laughed, but then covered his mouth, trying to stifle back his laughter when the woman glared at him.

"I don't see what being in groped broad daylight is so funny!" the woman snapped, which amused Edward more.

"It's not, I'm sorry. I just – I think I cheated on my girlfriend by accident and shit, I can't stop laughing, I'm sorry," Edward repeated, trying to sound sincere and not laugh.

"Hey," Tanya greeted him, walking out of the store and began brushing Edward's back with her hand. "Gross, Edward. You couldn't have chosen a clean sweatshirt to wear in public?"

"I fell on my ass trying to save this woman's life," Edward announced in amusement, gesturing to said woman, who bristled at the acknowledgement. "Also? Technically, I think just cheated on you." He added with a laugh and both Tanya and the woman exchanged wary glances. "Because I went to second base with her in the process."

He explained what happened, and Tanya was bemused, but then noticed the woman glowering at Edward's amusement of the whole situation. "Edward, it's not funny," Tanya admonished and elbowed him in the side. "Stop laughing."

"C'mon, it's a little funny when you think about it," Edward remarked with a snigger. "I just went to second base with a woman whose name I don't even know in broad daylight _and_ in the middle of the street. How often does that happen?" he directed to the woman and then glanced around him. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"I don't think she found being groped in broad daylight as funny as you did," Tanya told him. "Did you at least apologize to her?"

"Of course I did," Edward replied defensively, but failed to add that it wasn't the most serious of apologies.

"Well, maybe she's just embarrassed," Tanya shrugged and then glanced at her watch. "I should go," the two kissed and Tanya tugged on Edward's shirt when they pulled apart. "And if you plan on saving anyone else's lives on your way back home, try not to round any bases with them in the process, okay?"

"I can't make promises, but I'll be sure to stick to saving the lives of fat, sweating, bald men only." Edward's cell started ringing. "See? They're calling to be saved already," he joked, and Tanya laughed, giving him a wave before making her way down to the subway.

Edward glanced at the screen before answering. "Hey Peter."

"Hey Edward. You busy?"

"Nah, not really. What's up?"

"I need to cash in on that favor you owe me," Peter declared and Edward turned in the direction of Peter's shop, knowing the favor was most likely needed there. "I got a shipment of dog food yesterday afternoon, but I did my back in this morning and can't do any heavy lifting. When you've got a chance, can you come over and give me a hand?"

"Sure," Edward replied and spied a familiar figure across the road from him. "I have some free time right now if you want it done today?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"I'm on my way. See in you ten," Edward said ending the call and pocketing his phone. He crossed the street and made sure to look both ways before he did, unlike the woman he had saved before, who he was headed toward now.

She had her cell phone in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. She wore an oversized, short-sleeved red blouse that hung off one shoulder, paired with jeans. She had flat sandals on and was significantly shorter than Edward, so he had to bend his knees slightly to catch her attention.

"Hello!" he greeted brightly.

The woman glanced up and blinked before eyeing Edward warily. "Hello," she echoed, less enthusiastically.

"So, about what happened back there," Edward began, turning serious and waved his hand in the general direction of where they were before. "I owe you a better apology. I'm sorry for the way I grabbed you, which really was accidental by the way, and for laughing in your face about it afterwards. That was really rude," Edward added with a slight grimace, realizing how bad it seemed when he put in words.

"It _was_ really rude," the woman agreed flatly and then relented, shrugging one shoulder. "but thanks for apologizing to me again…and yeah, maybe it'll be one of those things that I can look back on one day and laugh about," she added dryly and then glanced down at the paper in her hands and sighed. "Definitely not today though because I'm too busy cursing Map Quest into the fiery depths of hell."

"Where are you headed?" Edward asked and then moved to stand next to her and she tilted the paper so he could see. "_Pete's Pet Barn_?" he read out questioningly.

"Yeah. You know it?"

Edward nodded. "I'm headed over there now to help Pete himself with something."

"How far are we from the store?"

"It's about two blocks that way." Edward pointed down the street to his left and the woman looked irritated.

"Ugh, I hate you Map Quest," the woman mumbled and balled up the paper in her hand and shoved it into her purse. "It was telling me to go three blocks that way," she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, the opposite direction to where Edward had shown.

"Stupid Map Quest. More like…crap fest." Edward joked lamely and then shook his head at himself.

"Crap fest?" the woman repeated with raised eyebrows.

"I don't know. It's a hard word to make fun of."

The woman cracked a smile and the two began walking toward Pete's. "So, you work at Pete's?" she prompted, making polite conversation.

"No…but yes," Edward said, and then thought about it. "And also no?"

"O-kay?" the woman dragged out, giving him an odd look.

"I _did_ work at Pete's, but then I got fired," Edward answered with a light laugh. "I was doing stock take and I accidently added an extra zero to an order of goldfish." He shook his head. "It's not a good day when a case of five hundred goldfish turns up and there isn't anywhere to put them."

Her eyes went wide, and she let out a plummeting whistle. "Whoa," she said and then frowned. "So he fired you…but you still work for him?"

"Well yeah, but it's not paid work," Edward clarified and then shrugged. "I felt bad about what happened, so I told Pete that I owe him about five hundred favors and to call me if he ever needed to cash one in. So I help out every now and then with heavy lifting and deliveries, little things like that."

"Things that don't involve numbers and counting," the woman teased lightly.

"No," Edward emphasized heavily as they reached the pet shop. "No counting or numbers."

He held open the door and the woman moved inside, thanking him. She paused in the entry way of the shop, glancing around her and was immediately pounced on by a sales person. The two started talking and Edward slipped away, to the back of the shop to start working on his favor for Peter.

Half an hour later, he was done and left the store when he noticed the woman standing outside. She was in front of the kitten display in the shop window, with one kitten pawing at her hand that was against the glass.

"Don't tell me I went to all that trouble saving your life only to have you walk out of the store empty handed," Edward teased, because she wasn't carrying anything else but a sheet of paper and she dropped her hand from the glass, stepping away from the window.

"Yeah, I could tell feeling me up was really hard for you," the woman countered in amusement and then lifted up her paper, which Edward saw noticed was a purchase invoice. "I did buy something but they didn't have it in stock so I had to order it in."

"Are you having it delivered?" Edward asked, knowing the store had that option.

"Yeah. They said it'll be ready within the next three to four working days. Some guy named," she glanced at the paper and then read out, "Edward Masen is going to give me a call when it's ready for me."

"Edward Masen, huh?" Edward repeated and then glanced at her in mock wariness. "A word of advice – when that guy calls you to make the delivery, make sure it's in a public place. That guy is a _freak_."

"What?" the woman blurted out worriedly. "Oh my God."

"Yeah," Edward nodded and then continued in a low voice. "I heard that on weekends, he lurks near subway stations and then pounces on unsuspecting women making up some story about saving their lives when he's really just looking for a cheap feel." The woman laughed and he grinned. "And in case that wasn't obvious, I'm Edward."

"Bella," she said. "Nice to meet you."

Then she smiled and added, "I think."

**\\-\\**

_Everything feels right and perfect and good._

_I move and she's moving too, making nice noises __and saying my name and fuck yes, all of it feels so damn good._

_So worth everything, this feeling._

**\\-\\**

"Hello?"

"Holy shit, this hamster cage is amazing. You've got the wooden tree house _and_ the tube slide. If I were a hamster, this cage would definitely be my first choice. Although, I probably wouldn't be able to afford the rent with the added hamster ball—those things bring the rent price right up."

"Who is this?"

"Oh, sorry. I have this bad habit of just talking when people answer the phone instead of saying what people usually say. Which, in this case, would've been – 'Hi Bella, this is Edward.'"

"…umm…"

"We met last weekend at the pet store?" there was still silence on Bella's end, so Edward added, "you were an unsuspecting woman near a subway station and we went to second base?"

"Oh! Edward. Yes, I remember now. Hi."

"Hi. So, your mega awesome hamster house is ready, along with one brown and white striped hamster. Who, by the way," Edward added, sounding thoughtful, "is incredibly fat. I have this urge to, I don't know, push it over or something just to see what will happen."

"You, what? Don't push it over!" Bella spluttered out in disbelief. "You don't push a hamster over, that's mean. Stop being mean to my hamster."

"Yeah, you're right. It's probably not a good idea anyway. It might destroy the tree house and topple the tube slide. Not to mention the floor of the cage might crack open once it falls down. Because it's a chunky hamster. Chubby hamster. Chubby chubster–"

"I get the joke," Bella interrupted, sounding amused. "I think I want my hamster before you traumatize it in any way. Preferably as soon as possible."

"Sure. When and where would you like your obese hamster delivered to?"

"Could you deliver it now?" Bella asked hopefully.

"Now? I can do that. In around an hour or so?"

"That's fine. I'm not at home right now, but we could meet up somewhere? There's a Max Brenner near where I am, between Thirtieth and Fourteenth Street. Can you meet me there?"

"Taking my advice and meeting Edward Masen in a public place. Smart thinking," Edward remarked and a voice piped up in the background from Bella's end.

"Are we going to Max Brenner?"

"Yeah we are, Kate," Bella affirmed and there was a cheer from Kate. "Go put your shoes on."

"Yummy! I want chocolate pizza!"

"Okay. This Kate person automatically gets ten respect points for having good taste in food," Edward commented. "And also, it's the end of the day and I could eat so I'm inviting myself to Max Brenner as well. Is that alright?"

"Sure," Bella replied in amusement. "It's perfectly fine to ask if you can invite yourself to eat with us."

"Good. See you in an hour."

**\\-\\**

An hour later, Kate, Bella and Edward sat on a table outside Max Brenner – a Willy Wonka-esque chocolate themed eating extravaganza place – because they couldn't eat inside with the hamster cage. Kate and Bella ordered the chocolate pizza – a warm, thin pastry shaped like a pizza, with double-melted chocolate as the 'sauce,' topped with melted marshmallows and candied hazelnut bits, then carved into triangle slices like a real pizza. Edward ordered the chocolate syringe, which was exactly what it sounded like – a plastic syringe filled with chocolate that you could shoot straight into your mouth.

"But we could share our pizza with you!" Kate told Edward after he ordered the syringe. The six year old was taken with him within five minutes of meeting. "It's more fun when you share it," she insisted.

"Thanks, kid, but I'm trying to reduce my carbs," Edward said as the waitress walked away. "I'll stick with shooting up straight chocolate. No need to add more dough to my waistline."

"Okay," she sighed, looking put out but then perked up again as she turned to the hamster cage. "What are you going to name your hamster, Aunty Belly?"

"Yeah, make sure you pick a good name, Aunty _Belly_," Edward added with a grin.

"Only Kate's allowed to call me that," Bella said, giving him a stern look and then glanced at the hamster cage thoughtfully. "Well, I was going to let my students name him, but if you think of a name Kate, I'll keep it."

"Yay!" Kate exclaimed and then began scrutinizing the hamster, mumbling to herself. "Hmmm, are you a Frankie? Or a Buttons? Maybe a Cleo…"

"You're a teacher?" Edward asked Bella as the waitress returned with the pizza and chocolate syringe.

Bella nodded. "Yeah, the main sciences at the all boys prep school in Manhattan. The hamster is for my freshman class, because we learn about animal systems and environments."

"Science. That's cool," Edward slurpily replied, shooting up chocolate directly into his mouth from the large plastic syringe.

"It's never boring, that's for sure…" Bella remarked distractedly, watching him in half disgust, half amusement.

"Aunty Belly is a doctor science teacher!" Kate piped up, nibbling on her pizza slice.

"That's what I have written on my business card." Bella joked.

"Sounds like a mouthful. Maybe you should shorten it to 'Doctor Belly.'"

"– and she does the _coolest_ experiments," Kate continued as Bella scowled at Edward. "She made a volcano out of paper mâché and then made it explode purple lava! And another time, she turned a hamster blue and the other day, she made light prism with fruit!"

"Uh, hold on," Edward frowned and Bella made a choking sound on her pizza slice. "What was that one in the middle, with the hamster?"

"Oops," Kate's eyes went wide. "I mean, she _secretly_ turned a hamster blue," Kate said in a whisper and Bella groaned.

"You turned a hamster _blue_?" Edward questioned, glancing at Bella incredulously. "How does that…what? How would you even do that?"

"I didn't purposely dye him blue," Bella insisted defensively. "It was an accident and the hamster was fine –"

"Okay. I just need to make a quick phone call," Edward picked up his phone and scrolled through it. "It's definitely not to PETA and it's definitely not to report you for animal cruelty."

"No, don't!" Bella hastily reached over to cover the screen of Edward's phone and started talking quickly. "I was doing an experiment one day at school that involved a beaker full of blue dye and I was holding it in my hand and moving toward the back of the classroom when I tripped and the dye splashed inside the hamster cage."

"You _tripped_? Well sure, that doesn't sound suspicious at all," Edward pointed his chocolate syringe at her, making Kate giggle. "What has that hamster ever done to you, huh?"

"The hamster was _fine_," Bella emphasized pointedly, pushing his syringe down. "I managed to dry the hamster and get the fur back to its normal coloring but there was still a small blue patch that wouldn't go away. Not even a patch, it was really more of a small streak."

"You say the hamster 'was' fine," Edward noted. "What happened to it?"

"He's a hamster angel in hamster heaven now," Kate declared solemnly and Edward stared at Bella, his jaw slack, which made her shake her head.

"Not because of me! It wasn't the dye," Bella clarified quickly and Edward leaned forward as she continued in a low voice with Kate returning her attention to the cage beside her. "A week later, one of the students took him home for the weekend and gave the hamster a fluffy pillow. It must've chocked on one of the feathers and…"

"A fluffy pillow? How convenient," Edward said, narrowing his eyes at her as he leaned back in his seat.

"It was because of the pillow, alright? End of story," Bella muttered, returning to her pizza.

"I got a name!" Kate piped up again, looking excited. "Ready? Ready? It's a good one too." Edward and Bella voiced their readiness and Kate cleared her throat. "Ahem. I've decided on…" she paused dramatically and then exclaimed, "Pudge! His name is Pudge!"

"Pudge," Bella repeated slowly and then nodded her approval. "I like it. Sounds good Kate, I'll keep it."

"It suits him, coz he's a fat hamster," Edward said, nodding in appreciation and then held out his fist. "Nice one kid."

Kate stared at his fist in front of her and then at Edward. "Why is your fist in my face?"

"So you can bump it," Edward told her and Kate continued to stare blankly, so Edward added, "a fist bump is when one person offers you their fist in agreement or in respect and you bump it back with your own in a light and decisive manner."

"Like this?" Kate lifted her hand, forming a fist and tentatively tapped it against Edwards.

"Yeah, woo!" Edward cheered and Kate giggled and they did it again.

Over the next hour or so, the three of them ate and talked and ate and then the conversation turned to just Bella and Edward as Kate got bored and started paying attention to Pudge the hamster. The two talked about superficial things, mainly food related, like that week's episode of _DC Cupcakes_ and if you wanted waffles, but didn't have a waffle maker, what would happen if you made pancakes and whacked them with a tennis racket when they're done. Every now and then, Edward would pick up his phone and send off a text while they talked and Edward had just ordered another chocolate syringe when his phone started to ring.

"It's my girlfriend, Tanya," Edward said, glancing at his phone. "Excuse me for second. Don't shoot up any of my chocolate while I'm gone," he told them as he slid out of his seat and caught the amused looks on Kate and Bella's faces. "Seriously – don't touch my syringe. It's mine."

"I like him," Kate declared when Edward left the table. She grinned at Bella. "He's so weird."

"He is weird, isn't he?" Bella agreed and then added in a teasingly awed tone, "did you see the piercings at the back of his neck?"

"He has some on his fingers too! Owie," Kate grimaced but then composed herself as Edward returned to his seat.

"Tanya's on her way over," Edward stated, pocketing his phone. "She's about two blocks away."

"Oh, okay," Bella said and then waited for Edward to continue and say goodbye or something along those lines. When he didn't, Bella thought he might be waiting for _them_ to leave, so she added, "we probably should get going then. Thanks for delivering the –"

"What? No, stay for a while," Edward told her. "Tanya wants to meet you guys. I've been texting her for the past hour and she's really excited. Unless you have somewhere to go…?"

"We don't, but are you sure?" Bella prompted hesitantly. "I don't want it to be weird or anything–"

Edward scoffed dismissively. "Why would it be weird? It's fine; she really does want to meet you. Anyway," he added with a grin, "I've already ordered the fondue for us to share."

"The churro fondue?" Kate questioned. Edward nodded and Kate turned to Bella, bouncing up and down in her seat slightly. "Can we stay Aunty Belly? I want to stay. Puh-leaaase?"

"Too late," Edward lifted his hand and waved at someone behind Bella and Kate. "She's here now and it would be rude if you left without at least saying hello."

"Alright, we'll stay," Bella relented. Edward and Kate fist bumped sneakily, Kate giggling. "For five minutes and to say hi only. Then we'll go."

"Hello!" Tanya greeted brightly when she reached the table and Edward made the introductions as she took the seat next to him, opposite Kate and Bella.

A classic beauty, Tanya's the kind of girl who causes men to run into street signs and trip over chairs because they're too busy looking at her to walk. If Tanya weren't a genuinely nice person, Bella would've probably hated her on principle alone.

"That is a _very_ cool hamster cage," Tanya stated, eyeing it appreciatively as the waitress set down their churro fondue and they all dug in. The five-minute time limit Bella imposed had passed ten minutes ago and she had forgotten it in talking with Tanya anyway. "The coolness of it kind of makes me want to get one too."

Edward nodded in agreement, stretching his arm across the back of Tanya's chair. "It should've come with some sort of hamster umbrella in case Bella is near it with any blue dye or something."

"Ooh, Edward texted me about this," Tanya said excitedly to Bella, who looked wary. "He didn't go into detail though and I really, _really_ want to hear the full story."

"This is all _your_ fault you know," Bella said in mock annoyance to Kate, who grinned in response, showing Bella her mouth full of chocolate covered churro.

Bella reluctantly retold the blue hamster story and Tanya laughed, both she and Edward referring back to it constantly as they ate. Their fondue finished, Bella called up Riley to pick her and Kate up, and he directed them to a quieter side street about two blocks away from where they were. They exited the restaurant together, Kate walking with Edward, him carried the hamster cage for them and Tanya and Bella falling a few steps behind.

"So, I kind of had an ulterior motive to wanting to come and meet you," Tanya declared, glancing sideways at Bella as they walked.

"You're trying to distract me so Edward can steal my hamster," Bella joked, eyeing Kate and Edward in front of them. "I knew it."

Tanya grinned in response. "You joke like Edward. I can see why he wanted me to ask you."

"Ask me what?" Bella prompted curiously and Tanya puffed out her cheeks, exhaling slowly.

"Okay. First off, I do realize how weird this question might be considering we just met an hour ago. Also, feel free to judge both Edward and me for what I'm about to ask you. We already know how weird this is going to sound –"

"Oh," Bella interrupted and gave Tanya a look of uncertainty and unease. "Uh, look. You and Edward are really nice and make a great couple, but I'm not really into that whole group sex, threesome thing –"

"What?" Tanya shook her head quickly. "No, no, no. That's not what I was going to ask. At all. I was just going to ask you to a party," she stated. "A birthday one. With cake and balloons and streamers."

"Ohh," Bella dragged out and the air became awkward between her and Tanya. "Well…now I feel dumb. And stupid. But mainly dumb."

"No, it's okay," Tanya assured her. "Should we just move on?"

"Please," Bella nodded and then added, "So, you want me, the dumb and stupid lady, to come to a birthday party?

"Yeah actually, we would," Tanya said with a laugh, the awkwardness fading and then she began to explain. "See, Edward and I have this friend, Alice. It's her birthday a few weeks from now and every year she has the theme 'Party of Five.'"

"As in, the nineties TV show? That show was _sad_. Nothing ever good happened to those kids. Ever."

"Not even close," Tanya answered flatly, rolling her eyes. "Alice has an affinity with the number five. She was born on the fifth of May, the fifth month of the year, in nineteen eighty five; she comes from a family made up of five, grew up in a house that was number five on her street; when she lived in an apartment building, it was a place on the fifth floor; if she's watching TV, the volume can only be increased in multiple's of five, and so on and so on," Tanya waved her hand in the air.

"No offense, but your friend Alice sounds…"

"Weird? Stupid? Unbalanced? A head case?" Tanya shook her head. "If you look up all those words in the dictionary, you'll find Alice's picture there. And she'd make sure that the words would be fifth down on the page, obviously."

Bella chuckled. "So, what have I got to do with her 'Party of Five?'"

"Well, every year she throws a huge party and asks her guests to bring five people with them," Tanya explained and motioned to Edward in front of them. "This means that with Edward and me, we would have to bring three other people with us. We _were_ going to bring my sister and her two friends but she's busy and everyone else we know is already going to be at Alice's party and then Edward met up with you today and texted me suggesting that we ask you to come as our 'party of five.'"

"Ahh, I see," Bella nodded in understanding.

"Alice knows how to throw a good party, so it won't be a total drag or anything," Tanya persisted. "And there'll be an open bar, if that helps any."

"When is the party?"

"Not this coming Saturday, but the next."

"On the seventh?" Bella prompted and Tanya nodded. "Oh, I have one of my mother's social gathering things that night."

"Oh, okay. It was worth a shot asking if you were free–"

"No, I hate my mothers parties," Bella cut in at Tanya's disappointment. "They're boring and full of uptight people. I'd rather go someplace that has people my own age _and_ an open bar."

"Okay, great!" Tanya said happily, grinning and they had reached the side street where Riley, Edward and Kate were waiting for them. "I'll get your number and email so I can send you the details. Oh, and you can bring two people with you so it can round up the group of five. That way, you'll know someone if you do get bored."

Bella nodded, taking out her phone. "I was going to drag my friend Rosalie and her boyfriend Emmett with me to my mom's party, but I'm sure they'll agree to come to Alice's party when I mention the words 'open' and 'bar.'"

"Just don't get confused and say 'threesome' or 'group sex' instead," Tanya joked and they both laughed.

**\\-\\**

_I sit up so I'm on my knees and snake an arm around her waist, pulling her up with me. I want her closer._

_I duck my head down, my mouth against her nipple and she groans my name, running her hand through my hair and it's like she electrocuted my scalp – if electrocution felt so good. She meets me thrust for thrust, and I'm mumbling about how good it feels against her chest. _

_She tugs on my hair again, bringing me back to her mouth. She kisses the hell out of me and it feels like there isn't enough skin or enough time, for the lost years that our lips are trying to make up for as they find each other._

* * *

><p>I don't think Max Brenner sells the 'chocolate syringes' any more (which makes sense considering it is a little in bad taste) but still - they were a lot of fun :)<p>

****souplover9** **corrects and encourages and I'd buy her a years worth supply of chocolate pizza's if I could.

All you guys out there who are reading, reviewing, alerting, etc are the personification of chocolate syringes and chocolate pizzas :)

**Next chapter: ****Alice drinks too much and ropes Edward and Bella into getting 'friendship married'**

_Will xoxo_


	6. No bunny at all, always NO BUNNY AT ALL

**Saturday, 3:51am**

_**Still one year previously…**_

"Hello?"

"Alice, sweetie, you just answered your foundation compact."

Alice moved the compact from her ear to look at it. "Oh, yeah. THANK YOU!" they all winced at her loudness as Alice dropped the compact back into her clutch and then started digging around inside it.

It was very early in the morning on the night of Alice's party and being the last ones left from the party, the seven of them had been kicked out of the club for Alice's 'raucous behaviour' – a direct quote from the overly pompous bouncer – and were now walking toward a more busier part of the city which had more traffic so it was easier to hail a cab. With the exception of Alice, and Edward who was sober, they were all on the same level of drunkenness – buzzed but not wasted, or completely shot like Alice was. She was a happy, drunk yeller– the kind where you love everyone and have an urgent need to tell them, and if you don't yell it at them then they won't be able to hear it.

"A-ha!" Alice exclaimed, holding up her Blackberry triumphantly.

"Who are you calling?" Tanya asked warily, as Alice started tapping away on the phone.

"No one! Everyone! I want to tell them about my FRIENDS!" Alice shouted and the six of them flinched. They were walking in pairs, Alice in the middle hanging onto Rosalie and Emmett and Bella on their left and Edward and Tanya on the other side of Alice. Jasper was a few feet ahead of them, in charge of hailing a cab.

"Maybe you should leave that till tomorrow morning, alright Alice?" Rosalie suggested, gingerly taking the phone out of Alice's hands and placing it back into her clutch.

"But – but I want to tell everyone about my FUCKING AWESOME FRIENDS!" Alice yelled happily, fist pumping the air and the others laughed at her.

"Oh, oh!" Alice cried out suddenly and then stopped walking abruptly. The rest of them collectively groaned their annoyance saying, 'Come _on _Alice' and 'If she hurls, I'm walking away.'

"RUDE!" Alice cried out, pointing a finger at Edward. "I do not vomit! I am not a vomit DRUNK!"

"Okay, okay. You're not a vomit drunk," Edward held his hands up in a gesture of surrender at Alice's glare and when she turned away, he muttered under breath to the others, "lies. She totally is."

The others stifled back their laughter as Alice called out to Jasper, waving her hands like a windmill, as if they were two miles apart instead of two feet, gesturing him to join them.

"I just thought of something for all of us TO DO!" Alice yelled and then wrapped herself around Jasper when he stood next to her, kissing him with more tongue than was publicly appropriate.

"She wants us to make out with Jasper?" Emmett stated in confusion as Alice and Jasper continued to make out. "I know it's her birthday and everything, but I really don't want to do that."

"Me neither, and I thought you said that this wasn't a sex party," Bella joked to Tanya who snickered as Edward pulled Alice and Jasper apart.

"Jesus, Alice. Keep it in your pants," Edward said warily, pushing the two gently away from each other. "What do want us to do?"

"Sorry, sorry." Alice panted, patting her hair and then perked up again. "I want us to do a friendship CEREMONY!" she grinned widely and they stared at her blankly.

"A what?"

"A friendship ceremony! Because I made new friends! And they're FUCKING AWESOME!" Alice shouted and they all laughed. She started moving them around, mumbling directions, and snapping at them when they giggled at her.

"I'm so glad we ditched your mom's party for this," Rosalie said to Bella, who had been directed to stand next to her.

Bella grinned. "I know, right?"

"Quiet!" Alice snapped and Rosalie and Bella looked admonished, as if they had just been told by off by a teacher. They were now split in half and stood shoulder to shoulder, the women on one side and the guys opposite them with Alice standing at the head of the line. Alice cleared her throat and then began with Edward and Bella, who were first in line for the ceremony.

"Bella, do you take Edward to be your friend?" Alice remarked in complete seriousness, swaying slightly on the spot.

The others laughed quietly as Bella swallowed back a laugh as well and looked at Edward and said, "I do."

"And Edward, do you take Bella to be your friend?"

"Hell no," Edward shook his head and Bella gasped theatrically while the others collapsed into giggles again. "I don't want to be friends with someone who kills hamsters."

"HEY!" Alice grabbed his shirt, pulling him down to her level and yelled into his ear, "YOU SAY YES AND BE HER FRIEND YOU, YOU – GINGERBREAD!"

They all burst out laughing, as Edward winced, covering up his ear with his hand and straightened up.

"Gingerbread?" Edward repeated, glaring at Alice. "Like you're one to talk, short stack –" He jerked away as Alice made to grab him again. "Okay! Okay! Yes, I do too. I take Bella as my friend."

"Thank you," Alice said primly and then moved on to Jasper and Rosalie and then finished with Tanya and Emmett.

"Time to exchange rings!" Alice announced and they all glanced at each other, confused. "Rings. Rings!" she repeated urgently, stretching her thumb to her ear and pinkie finger to her mouth. "RINGS!"

"I think she means phone numbers," Rosalie stated.

Alice rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "DUH!"

The others 'ohhd' in understanding, taking out their phones and exchanging them with their significant 'friendship' other while Alice happily watched on.

"This makes me very HAPPY! With all my friends who are so lovely to me and on my birthday, the best day of the year..." the others snickered, still exchanging numbers and only half paying attention to her to rambling. But then she got their full attention when she said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go vomit on the side of that building."

"What? Alice –"

"Isn't that a church?"

"Oh, shit!"

"Quick, someone hold her hair back –"

"Too late. Ewww, you can smell her cake."

"Yup. Definitely a church."

**\\-\\**

_I'm on my back and she's on top of me and it's incredible. My hands are on her hips as she moves on and off me, arching her back and I watch her mouth shape my name but her voice doesn't say it._

_She takes my hand off her hip, moving my fingers to where she wants, showing me what she likes until her face twists up pretty and this…God, this is everything._

**\\-\\**

"Whitlock shoots from the three point line –"

"– and misses by a long shot," Edward finished for Jasper, catching the ball as it bounced on the court. "Dude, you suck."

"I missed that shot on purpose," Jasper scoffed. Edward tossed him back the basketball and he dribbled it a couple of times. "So. Alice and I ran into Tanya on the weekend."

Edward rested a hand over his chest and looked imploringly at his friend. "Even if you know it's not true, tell me that she's fat and ugly now?"

"She's fat and ugly now."

Edward smirked. "Thanks," he watched Jasper shoot another basket, missing again. "This is just embarrassing. We're in public Jasper, come on," Jasper threw the ball hard at Edward, scowling. Edward snickered, turning the ball in his hands. "You bringing up that you and Alice ran into Tanya – was that your subtle way of asking how I'm doing since she dumped me?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Jasper replied, watching him dribble the ball a couple of times. "Sorry I haven't been able to hang out; I've been pretty swamped at work. You doing okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I wake up in the morning, and then lie in bed all day, listening to Adele's first album while sobbing uncontrollably into my pillow. Then at night I go to titty bars and drown my sorrows in Jack and coke and then go back home and listen to Adele's second album till I fall asleep. Rinse and repeat," Edward aimed and threw the ball at the hoop, and it circled the rim before falling in.

Jasper caught the ball but didn't pass it to Edward, staring at him instead. "You listen to Adele?"

"No, loser. I was being sarcastic," Edward gestured for the ball and Jasper passed it. "I haven't really been doing anything, actually," he admitted, taking another shot. "I had a ten day temp job the agency gave me and they had me doing eighteen hours a day of work, so I've been pretty wiped with that to do anything."

Jasper nodded slowly and watched Edward shoot two more hoops before he spoke again. "You talked to Bella lately?"

Edward shook his head. "I haven't talked to her since Tanya and I broke up. I think Bella mentioned something about being busy grading finals."

"So, are you gonna ask her out?"

"Who? Bella?"

"No, my mom. Yeah, Bella."

"Why would I ask her out?" Edward remarked incredulously.

"Why not?" Jasper questioned and Edward shook his head, trying to turn the ball on his finger. "You guys have hung out a couple of times and I know you guys click in that weird, random way and you like the same things. Like that day we all went out to dinner after Alice's birthday and you two wouldn't shut the hell up quoting _Friends_ back and forth with each other the whole night."

Edward grinned. "Smelly cat, Smell-y cat –"

"If I have to hear that stupid song from you one more time, I will junk punch you so hard," Jasper threatened, and Edward snickered, giving up on spinning and aimed at the hoop again. "Anyway. Explain to me why won't you ask Bella out?"

"I dunno," Edward paused to collect the ball and then spun it in his hands, thinking. "I mean, Bella's cool to hang out with and she's cute and all, but not exactly my type. She's a doctor in science and has what, two other degrees from Harvard or something? Me, on the other hand, I have zero degrees and breeze through life the easiest way I can. Plus, she's like," Edward raised his hand mid torso. "This tall. She's miniature."

"Being with a girl that's miniature has its advantages," Jasper pointed out, grinning lazily and Edward pulled a face in response. "Just saying."

"Nah. I think I'll just stick to being friends with Bella," Edward replied, passing him the ball. "Can we stop talking like girls about girls and play some ball now?"

An hour later, and two one-on-one games finished, Edward was walking back home from the courts when he noticed that he had a missed call from Bella and a message on his voicemail asking him to call back.

"Hello?"

"I have a question: you know how you're a doctor?"

"Technically, it's just a title, but yeah, I know how I'm a doctor," Bella replied with a laugh. "And hello to you too."

"Identifying yourself when answering a call is boring and I like opening with a question. Anyway," Edward said, adding to his question, "So, you're a doctor _and_ a teacher. What do you get your students call you?"

"I tell them to call me Doctor Swan."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Bella scoffed. "I didn't go through four years of hard work to get the title for them _not_ to call me Doctor Swan. I'd get everyone I know to call me Doctor Swan if I could and no, I don't care how pretentious that makes me sound."

Edward grinned. "Alright then – how are you Doctor Swan?"

Bella laughed. "I was kidding. You don't really have to call me that," she sighed. "I'm okay. Sorry we haven't talked lately. I've been busy grading papers for school and I would've texted you sooner except for the fact that I got a new phone and cannot for the life of me figure out how to text from it," she said in frustration.

"Blah, school," Edward muttered in disgust. "I'd rather die than to set foot in one of those places. Even if the world ended and the only place on earth that had any food and water was a school gym, I would not go."

"What? You hate school?" Bella sounded shocked.

"Yeah. I left when I was fourteen and never looked back. Best thing I ever did. Well, that's not true," Edward added thoughtfully. "I probably should've stayed. I still hate it though."

"But why?" Bella questioned indignantly. "School is great. Education! Learning new things! It's awesome, I love school."

"Aww," Edward cooed teasingly. "It's cute you're such a nerd."

"I am not," Bella insisted and then changed the subject. "I called to ask for a favor. Are you free this Sunday?"

"Free as a bird. Or caged up like one," he added quickly. "Considering what the favor is exactly."

"Well, let me explain and then you can decide whether you're free or not," Bella said wryly and then continued. "I have brunch with my mom twice a month and we don't really get along that well. My mom's kind of…snippy and constantly finds faults in my life and then makes an undermining comment about it. So I make sure I bring someone with me to brunch to keep myself from launching over the table and asphyxiating her with her overly expensive, and not to mention tacky, Bulgari choker."

"Asfixa – wha?"

"Strangle; choke," Bella clarified. "If someone I know is there with me, it'll help me not want to strangle and choke my mother to death."

"Whoa, okay. Violent much?"

"Sorry. She just really gets to me sometimes. All the time, actually."

"So…you want me to come to brunch with you in case you have the need to kill your own mother who constantly criticizes you?"

"Yes please," Bella replied. "And I was thinking that this was kind of a similar thing to you and Tanya inviting me to Alice's birthday last month?" she added and Edward grimaced over the phone, his good mood deflating some. "Except, this won't be as much fun as Alice's birthday. Although my mother _does_ pay for these brunches, so you can stuff your face with over priced food while me and Tanya get silly drunk."

"I think it might be a little weird if Tanya were to come," Edward started to say, but then Bella cut in.

"Oh, it's fine. The more people that comes to these brunches, the better," Bella said casually. "And seriously, the three of us can order the most expensive thing on the menu, even if the description sounds awful. It makes me feel good the amount of money I milk out of my mom and the urge to kill my mother is significantly less," Bella joked with a laugh – at least Edward hoped she was joking.

"That's not what I meant by weird. I meant that it would be weird seeing as Tanya and I aren't together anymore."

"You broke up?" Bella stated in disbelief. "Crap, Edward. I'm sorry –"

"It's fine, you didn't know." Edward assured her. "I probably should've opened with that instead of the doctor thing anyway."

"When did this happen?" she asked hesitantly.

"Erm…about three weeks ago?" Edward stated, scuffing his shoe against the pavement. "She wanted me to give her a big rock to wear on her left hand and I don't ever want to give anybody any kind of rock to wear anywhere, sooo she ended things," he summarized and then exhaled heavily. "Not that I really care anymore, because I'm over it. This is me. Over it."

"I know 'over it,'" Bella remarked dryly. "That's code for lounging around in your sweatpants, eating ice cream from the tub and watching sappy chick flicks."

"That's not what guys do when they go through a break up," he told her. "They lounge around wearing _no_ pants watching kung-fu movies and its cookie dough from the packet, not ice cream. I'll tell you a secret though - we SAY we're watching kung-fu movies, when it's actually a chick flick."

"I _knew_ it!" Bella said in amusement and Edward grinned and Bella's tone was serious as she continued. "Well, if you ever want to talk or just hang out or watch a movie with Katherine Heigl in it, whatever, I'm here."

"Thanks," Edward said and then cleared his throat lightly, changing the subject. "So, where do you and your mom usually have brunch?"

"It changes and she lets me know a day or two before. Renee can never really settle on the one place to eat. Typical," she muttered.

"Well, when you two decide on a place and time, let me know."

"You still want to come?" Bella asked in surprise.

"I won't ever say no to food. Especially if it's free," Edward told her seriously and she laughed.

"I should've known. All you ever do is eat," Bella countered back teasingly. "I should go. I'll text you the time and location for Sunday…or maybe not, considering texting from my phone is more complicated than doing a study on bioluminescence."

"That wasn't a science joke, was it? Because if it was, I don't think we can be friends anymore."

"Never mind, never mind," Bella said quickly and he chuckled. "I'll talk to you soon Edward."

"Cool. Bye."

**\\-\\**

_We're both lying on our stomachs, faces so close that our noses are touching. I'm trying to think of the last time I felt this happy, but I can't. Right now, I feel as happy as I've ever been. _

_Bella weaves our fingers together and brings it up to my face. "You know what I just realized?"_

"_That you've said 'oh God' so many times tonight, you're thinking of turning really, really religious?"_

"No_," Bella says and the way she exaggerates it, 'no-wa' makes me smile. She runs our joined fingers along my neck and jawline. "I realized that I'm allowed to touch you. I _am_ touching you."_

_I know what she means – friends don't necessarily touch each other without having a reason to first. I can probably count on one hand how many times we've actually had skin-to-skin contact._

"_Yeah, you're allowed," I kiss the back of her hand and then let go of our hands, leaving hers on my face.  
><em>

_I loop one arm around the curve of her back and run my hand up the side of her torso and then back down again. I close my eyes as her touch goes from my cheek to my neck to my chest. My eyes slide half open and we stop, staring at each other, savoring the moment. And then all at once, we pull each other forward. I roll onto my back and Bella's leg wraps around my thigh and she climbs on top of me and we kiss._

_And then I go religious on her. Very quickly._

* * *

><p>There's been some confusion about the italic sections of the fic, so this is just a quick note to clear that up:<p>

This fic is about E/B's relationship _before_ they get together. The parts in italics is Edward's POV, and it is in "present" tense, which means that the ending of chapter 12 will intersect with the EPOV in chapter 1.

Does that make sense? Feel free to ask me more questions about it if you like

****souplover9**** is not only awesome sauce, but awesome soup too. See what I did there? I'm Wil-larious, I know :D

I lovelovelove my readers/reviewers/alert-ers etc. You guys are so _polite._ Even when I can't count and put June as the fifth month of the year, you're really nice in correcting me about it. I love that :')

**Next chapter: We meet Bella's principal who yells at Edward to 'look back.'**

_Will xoxo_


	7. Everyone has an identical hand twin

**(A/N: Back to normal programming - this is a continuation from chapter 4)  
><strong>

_**Saturday, 11:03am**_

"Hello?"

"What did you say your friend's address was again?" Edward asked and Bella heard someone say 'where to, buddy?' in the background. "108 East 88th Street or 89th Street?"

"89th," Bella replied slowly, wondering if the address would prompt Edward's memory and she could hear him relay the address to the cab driver.

"Wait, 108 East 89th Street?" Edward said thoughtfully and Bella froze. "That sounds familiar."

"Um, that's because…" Bella grimaced, trying to think. "It's the street with the place that does taco pizzas."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Edward realized, and Bella gave her self a mental high-five. "I could use one of those right now. I'm starving –"

"No! No stop overs!" Bella interjected frantically. "Just come straight here! I _told_ you this was an emergency –"

"Whoa, alright," Edward said with a chuckle. "No stop overs, promise." Bella exhaled in relief. "I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay," Bella said and then hung up. She started fidgeting, twirling her phone in her hands as she paced. She was on her fourth pass when a cab pulled up to the curb and Edward stepped out.

"Okay," Edward said when he was in front of her and then looked around him. "Where's this emergency and who's this fr–"

Edward face went slack and mouth hung slightly open as he took in the building behind Bella. Bella winced, holding up her hands, palms facing Edward in a cautionary gesture.

"Edward, don't freak out–"

Edward gasped dramatically. "You tricked me!" he accused.

"No! It's not what it looks like!" Bella blurted out.

"We're standing in front of your school!" Edward snapped, looking furious. "And it's Saturday!"

"Okay, so maybe it is what it looks like," Bella amended, shrugging one shoulder and Edward just turned and started walking away without another word. "No, wait! Where are you going?"

Bella caught up with him and tried to stop him by digging her heels into the ground and pulling back on his arm. But because Edward was bigger than she was, it just ended up Bella being dragged along by Edward.

"Don't go! Just stop – for a second so I can – explain!" Bella punctuated her words with each tug, but Edward just continued to pull her along. "And you – are surprisingly – strong!"

Edward stopped abruptly, catching Bella off guard and she stumbled face first into him.

"Ow," she mumbled, rubbing her nose, taking a step back and Edward scowled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You have thirty seconds. Go."

"I was doing an experiment yesterday after school and I accidentally…burnt a hole through a table," Bella muttered with a slight grimace.

"When you say 'burnt a hole through a table,'" Edward said, looking at her cautiously. "You don't mean: burnt a hole through a table and accidentally-on-purpose killed a hamster, do you?"

"No. When I say I burnt a hole through a table, I mean that I burnt a hole through a table!" Bella snapped and then added through gritted teeth, "and I've never killed any hamsters! Let it go already."

"Hey, can you blame me for asking? You did dye one blue and then it just _happened_ to die a week later," Edward reminded her and Bella huffed. "So, anyway. How do you even put a hole through a table? Did you knock over a beaker full of acid or what?"

"Um, yes," she admitted sheepishly. "That's pretty much exactly what I did."

Edward shook his head. "You're clumsy for a scientist, you know that?"

"It's because I get too worked up," Bella muttered. "I over estimated the amount of hydrochloric acid I needed and the experiment went bust."

"I don't understand what you want me to do," Edward stated. "Do you want me to patch up a _hole _that's in a table? I don't get it."

"Well, no. The table is bolted to the floor and I need you to unbolt it and replace with a new one."

"But why do I have to do it? This is a rich-kid's school," Edward pointed out, gesturing to the building behind her. "I'm pretty sure they can afford to employ a janitor or two to do this for you."

"They do. But I don't want them to fix it. I want _you_ to do it for me."

"But WHY?"

"Because I could get fired!" Bella burst out and Edward looked confused.

"For burning a hole through a table? Was it made out of gold?"

Bella let out a noise of frustration. "If I put in a damage report, then I have to explain to them what went wrong and it'll raise eyebrows about my teaching methods and then they'll think I'm incapable as a teacher and then I'll get fired!"

"I don't think that'll happen just from a burnt table," Edward told her.

"Yes it can!" Bella countered panicky. "If you do it today, while no ones around, it'll go unnoticed and everything will be fine."

"Ooh," Edward said teasingly with a laugh. "Doctor Swan, defying the rules. Nice."

"It's not nice!" Bella shot back sharply and Edward just scoffed in amusement. "I could get fired over this Edward! There's nothing funny about me losing my job!"

Her voice broke and the tiniest rebel teardrops formed in the edges of her eyes and she angrily wiped them away. Bella wasn't prone to crocodile tears, or to any tears for that matter, and Edward caved.

"Dammit," Edward muttered, softening. "Okay, fine," he said in a normal tone. "I'll fix your stupid table."

"Really?" Bella prompted in a small voice.

"Yes, really," Edward said curtly and then pointed at her, looking stern. "But on three conditions."

Bella nodded, trying not to look too happy. "Okay."

"One, you have to buy me one of those taco pizzas after I'm done fixing your table."

"I'll buy you two."

"Three," Edward countered and Bella rolled her eyes.

"If I'm going to spend that much money on three pizzas, then you have to share one with me."

"Hell no," Edward scoffed immediately.

"Fine. Two pizzas then," Bella shrugged. "Take it or leave it."

"Okay, fine," Edward relented, looking grumpy. "I guess we can split one pizza. Seventy – thirty though."

"Such a gentlemen."

"Second condition," Edward continued, ignoring her comment. "I get out of going to Sunday brunch with you and your mom for two months."

"Aww, two months?" Bella whined. "But I thought you liked getting a free meal and being able to eat whatever you wanted to."

"I _do_ like it. But sometimes, you and your mom bitching at each other can ruin the greatness of it. And by sometimes I mean _all_ the time."

"Make it one month," Bella bartered and Edward paused for a moment to think and then nodded.

"Deal, one month. Final condition – you have to be topless while I fix the table."

"Edward, you're fixing a table. Not finding a solution to global warming."

"So, if I _did_ find a solution to global warming, then you'll show me—"

"No. Not even then."

**\\-\\**

"I hate this."

"Yes, I know. I heard you the other three times you said it."

Edward let out a grunt as he shifted the new table in the right place. "If fifteen-year-old me could see me now, hanging out at a school on a Saturday, he'd punch me in the nuts."

Bella grinned and then glanced out the little glass window in the classroom door, on the lookout in case anyone came near. "I don't understand why you hate school so much. I can understand people's distaste for it, but you genuinely hate it don't you?"

"Well, we can't all be nerds like you, Doctor Swan. I bet you spent so much time at _your_ school you had to start paying rent."

"Shut up," Bella retorted lamely and then asked, "so, if fifteen-year-old you would punch twenty-nine-year-old you for being at school on a Saturday, what would he do to you if he knew you were friends with a school teacher?"

"Oh, he'd be very happy that I'm friends with you. Also, impressed and he'd probably applaud me or give me a pat on the back." Edward caught Bella's look of confusion and added, "because you're really hot and have a great rack."

Bella tsked him. "Stay classy, Edward."

Their conversation stopped for the next minute or so, as Edward drilled the new table in place. "Okay. Done," he declared and then blew on the top of the drill as if it were a smoking gun.

"Great. Thank you," Bella said, walking over to inspect his work and Edward placed the drill back in the toolbox that Bella had given him. "You can leave the toolbox on the bench. I'll put it back in the storage room on Monday."

"Good. Pizza taco time now," Edward declared and then started shuffling Bella toward the door and she laughed, only just managing to grab her purse as he urged her along. "Let's go, let's go. I can feel the education seeping into my skin and turning me into one of you."

"What, a woman?" Bella questioned dryly, as she locked the classroom door behind her.

"No, worse. A nerd," he shuddered and Bella gave him a droll look. They made their way out of the building, stepping outside when she stopped abruptly.

"Oh, crap," Bella said faintly as they stood and surveyed the group of teenage boys milling around before them in the courtyard in front of the school gates.

"Why are there so many people here on a Saturday morning?" Edward questioned, eyeing the boys in disgust. They had yet to notice the two of them. "What kind of school _is_ this?"

"I forgot that the drama guys meet up every second Saturday at noon," Bella made an anxious noise. "Crap. Crap!"

"And what? It's become cool to be a drama geek and you don't want them to see you with me?"

"Yes. I mean, no. It's not cool to be a drama kid—that's never gonna happen," she dismissed but continued worriedly, "but yeah, it's not good if they see both of us here."

"Who CARES?" Edward groaned, just as the crowd of boys suddenly erupted loudly and all surged together in a circle. "Look, they're having some sort of musical number fight-off with each other. Now we can go."

"Musical fight-off?" Bella repeated in confusion, as they made their way around the shouting crowd of teenage boys.

"My guess is that it's probably between _West Side Story_ and _Fiddler on the Roof_. _West Side Story_ by the way, hands down." There was no reply and Edward looked to see that Bella had stopped a few steps back. He sighed, going over to her. "You've stopped. Why have you stopped?"

She raised herself up, trying to peer over the heads of the crowd. "I want to see what's going on. There's too much noise, it doesn't feel right."

"Yes, there is a lot of noise," Edward said with slow emphasis, as if speaking to a child. "That's what happens when there's a throw-down …"

"What?" Bella gasped and a loud 'oh!' was emitted from the crowd. "There's a fight?"

"Yeah, didn't you hear me? I did say there was a fight," Edward replied flippantly and then glanced at the crowd. At over six and a half feet tall, Edward stood a good two or three inches over the teenage boys' heads to be able to see what was going on. "It's between these two guys and they're really into it. One guy is pinned down flat on his back with the other guy pressing his forearm against his neck. No, wait–now the guy on his back has kicked him off and managed to get in a hit to the guys chin…"

Edwards voice grew faint behind her as Bella pushed through the crowd, trying to get to the center. Once there, she stood at the sidelines, gaping at the two boys wrestling each other on the ground, with the crowd spurring them on.

"This is awesome!" a voice cheered beside her and Bella glanced at the boy beside him. They made eye contact. "Doctor S! Hey," he greeted enthusiastically and she recognized him as Mike Newton, a sophomore in her Chemistry class.

"What is going on?" Bella asked loudly over the catcalls from the crowd. She eyed the phone in Mike's hands in disbelief. "Are you recording this?"

"Paul's girlfriend, Rachel, broke up with him last week and he just found out that–aw, shit! Right in the eye!–his best friend, Jared, hooked up with her last night, who conveniently broke up with his girlfriend, Kim, last week as well. Ohh!" Mike hollered, as did the rest of the crowd at the punch to the stomach Paul had just received. "And yeah! I'm recording this," he added, eyes on the screen. "I never knew how good the video quality of my phone was until now!"

"Put the phone away, Mike."

"Aww, but Doctor S–"

"Stop recording and put it away NOW, Michael," Bella ordered loudly, and even though she could count at least four other boys around her with their phones out, she hoped her voice was loud enough to reach them.

"Fine," Mike sighed and made a show of shutting it off and putting it back in his pocket.

Bella glanced back at the fight, wondering what to do. She had witnessed one or two fights between students before, and hollering at them to knock it off had proved effective. However, since Paul and Jared were too engrossed in the fight, nothing but physical separation would stop the brawl.

"Why hasn't anyone interfered?" Bella questioned warily, and some of the boys around them gave her 'don't look at me' looks.

"It's a guy thing," Mike said in way of explanation and the other boys nodded in agreement.

Before Bella could respond, there was another round of groans and shouts from the crowd. Paul had shoved Jared to the ground and started punching him.

Bella made her way near them, but not too close. "Stop it!" she shouted directly at Jared and Paul, at their level. They didn't even slow down—Paul now had a chokehold on Jared. It was so bad, he was turning red.

"Holy shit," Bella said weakly and then took another step forward. "Paul, let him go."

Out of nowhere, Edward stepped in and grabbed Paul by the scruff of his neck, dragging him back and Paul fell to the ground, gasping for air. Groans of disappointment were heard from the crowd, with some murmurs of, "Aw man, what the hell?" and "Where'd this guy come from?"

"What is the matter with you?" Paul yelled, struggling to get to Jared again, but Edward blocked his path. "Fucking hell Jared, you're my friend!"

Jared stayed kneeled on the ground, taking deep, ragged breaths. "You and Rachel aren't dating no more," he managed to wheeze out. "She's fair game."

"Fair game?" Paul spat out angrily and Edward pushed him back as he tried to get to Jared again. "Okay, I had a pizza for dinner last night, do you want those left overs too?" he snarled, still trying to shake Edward off. "I'm gonna rip your balls off and then staple them to your neck, you little bitch!"

Jared stood up shaking and tried to lunge at Paul, but stopped suddenly when a voice boomed out across the courtyard.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"

Everyone in the courtyard froze as Principal Weber appeared in the center of the scuffle, looking furious. She surveyed the scene, her eyes cutting to Bella, then Jared and finally Paul who was still being held back by Edward.

"You two," Principal Weber said dangerously, pointing to Jared and Paul, "in my office _now_." She raised her voice, waving her hand, "the rest of you can go on home."

The boys scurried about, grabbing their things and rushing out the school gates as Paul and Jared skulked off in the direction of the principal's office. Bella took a step back, trying to blend in with the other students when Principal Weber called out again.

"Doctor Swan, may I have a word with you as well?" Principal Weber called out and Bella flinched.

"Oh, crap."

**\\-\\**

"I hate this."

Edward nodded in agreement beside Bella. "I'm glad you're starting to see my side of things. Education is the devil."

"That's not what I meant, and it's not the devil. Shut up," Bella added distractedly, picking at her nails nervously. "Angela will ask what we're doing here. What am I gonna say?"

"Angela?"

"Principal Weber," Bella nodded to the door beside him, where said principal was grilling Jared and Paul inside her office.

Edward shrugged. "Just make up something."

"I suck at lying."

"Then tell the truth," Edward said warily, rolling his eyes. "You're not going to get fired over a table."

"I could. You don't know that," Bella pouted childishly.

"I bet you bazillion dollars you won't get fired."

"Deal," Bella agreed sarcastically.

Edward stretched his legs out in front of him, looking around. "I gotta say, out of all the principals office's that I've sat outside of – and I've been outside a lot – this is definitely the nicest."

Bella glanced around as well. The school office had dark green carpeting with large integrated wall aquarium inhabiting a school of multi colored fish of different sizes that even included a nurse shark. One side of the glass faced the inside of the principal's office and the other side of the glass faced the main office. A mahogany desk stood waist-high in the center of the main office, which Mrs. Cope manned, and all the chairs were leather and high backed. Both Edward and Bella sat on the love seat, opposite to Principal Weber's office, watching what was going on inside, through the seaweed and fish in the aquarium.

Edward shifted forward, staring at the small table that was in front of them. "Is that a bowl of M&M's?"

"Yeah. But I wouldn't eat any though," Bella warned him. "There's this myth that when the bowl was first brought out, one student licked an M&M and then put it back in the bowl. The bowl gets refreshed monthly, but if you get sent to see Principal Weber, you lick one and then put it back in the bowl. Nonono, don't –" Bella started to say, but Edward had already picked up a red M&M, licked it and then returned it.

Bella sighed. "As soon as I finished that sentence, I _knew_ you were gonna do that."

Edward grinned, which quickly turned into a grimace as another loud onslaught of yelling was heard from inside the office.

"Yikes," Edward muttered, shifting in his seat. "She's riding those guys' asses pretty hard."

"Angela can be pretty tough," Bella admitted and then shrugged. "But I guess you have to, to be running an all-boys high school."

"The guys were scared shitless when she turned up earlier," Edward noted. "Literally. They nearly crapped their pants when she told them to leave."

Bella laughed lightly. "Yeah. The boys nicknamed her 'Bullshit Detector Weber' because she doesn't take shit and picks up on everything. She's only like that with the students though. She's actually a totally sweetheart," she said and then frowned, adding musingly, "apart from the fact that she smokes a lot, drinks a lot, and swears a lot."

Just then, Principal Weber's office door opened and Angela stood in the threshold. Even though it was the weekend, and she was in casual clothes, she still had that forbidding, stern look that put her students into line during the weekdays.

"Please come in Doctor Swan," Angela directed and then glanced at Edward as Bella stood up. "I think it would be a good idea for you to join us as well."

Edward's eyes widened. "Me?"

"I don't see anyone else around, so yes, you," Angela replied coolly and then turned her heel, entering back into her office.

Bella gave Edward a look that clearly said 'you idiot' before they both followed Angela into her office. The room had the same dark green carpeting and chairs of the main office with wall-to-wall bookcases on one side, with the other half of the aquarium on the other. Angela sat behind her ornately carved desk, and Edward and Bella stood in front of the aquarium. Jared and Paul sat in the only two chairs in the room.

"The boys are going to recount what happened earlier to see if it matches up with what you, Doctor Swan, and Mr.…" Angela trailed off, looking expectantly at Edward, who was engrossed in staring at the fish tank. Bella nudged him.

"Huh?" Edward said and turned his attention to Angela. "Oh, Edwards fine. No Mr."

Angela nodded and finished her sentence. "With what Doctor Swan and Edward saw. Ah, please don't tap the glass," she added warily, and Edward dropped his hand from the fish tank, mouthing 'sorry.' Angela nodded to a sullen looking Jared and he heaved out a sigh.

"So, Paul and I show up for rehearsal," Jared began in a monotonous tone, who had a big bruise under his eye and a split lip. "And we're hanging out the front of the school or whatever, talking about random stuff. Then Paul gets in my face out of nowhere and starts to lose his shit, beating the crap out of me."

Angela clucked her tongue disapprovingly at his language and then nodded at Paul to continue. "Then what happened?"

Paul shifted in his seat, looking stoic with a cut lip. "Then we started fighting for a couple of minutes before Doctor Swan's boyfriend came in and–"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"I'm not her boyfriend."

Everyone stared at the two of them until Bella supplied, "friend. He's a friend. We're just friends."

"Fine," Paul rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "We started fighting and Doctor Swan's _friend_," he emphasized flatly, "came in and broke us apart and that's when you showed up, Principal Weber," he finished.

"Okay," Angela said and then glanced at Bella. "Doctor Swan?"

She nodded. "Yeah. That's the basic gist of what happened."

"Alright. Jared and Paul, here's what I'm going to do," Angela picked up a pen and started writing on a legal pad in front of her. "First off, I'm taking the two of you out of the school's drama performance. Then, you'll get two weeks of after-school detention. Thirdly, all your senior privileges are hereby revoked indefinitely –" both Jared and Paul let out sounds of frustration and she ignored them, still writing. "Lastly, I'll organize a meeting with both of your parents next week to discuss your behavior and suspension sentence."

"What? Suspension?" Jared repeated and Paul mirrored his look of outrage. "A round of early acceptance letters are coming in soon and there's no way I'm going to get in anywhere with a suspension against my record."

"That's not my problem," Angela replied, her voice hard and flat as she continued to write and Jared jumped out of his chair, now thoroughly pissed off.

"This is bullshit!" he snapped and Angela threw down her pen, glaring darkly up at Jared.

"No, what's bullshit is me having to deal with this at twelve-thirty on a Saturday!" Angela shot back coldly and Jared clenched his jaw, scowling. "The next time the two of you want to rip each others throats out, I suggest doing it _off_ of school property," she pointed to her door. "You can leave now. I'll speak to you again on Monday."

Both Jared and Paul flounced the room fuming. Once the door shut behind them, Angela puffed out her cheeks and folded her hands on top of her head and leaned back in her chair.

"I'm getting too old for this shit."

Bella smiled sympathetically and moved to sit in the chair that Paul was sitting in. "Thirty-nine is not old."

"I'm forty-two, kiss ass," Angela teased, dropping her hands into her lap. "How are you Bella?"

"Not too bad. Uh, just so you know, earlier I caught one of the boys recording the fight on his phone. I managed to stop him, but I spotted some others with their phones out."

Angela sighed. "Great. Kids and their technology these days. Not much I can do but get one of the tech guys to keep an eye out for it," she reached over to open one of her side drawers and spotted Edward. "Seriously, Edward?" she said exasperated and he flinched back from the aquarium. "There's a sign that says 'DO NOT TOUCH THE GLASS' right next you."

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Edward apologized hastily, shoving his hands into his pockets and Bella tried to smother a laugh. "Your shark is kind of cool looking."

"Thank you," Angela acknowledged with a small smile. "His name's Ben. I named him after my ex-husband, who I caught in bed with another woman and then tried to suck every penny out of me when he tried to put all the blame on _me _during the divorce."

"Good name for a shark," Edward mumbled and when Angela glanced away, he exchanged looks with Bella. His eyes were pointedly wide and she looked amused, still trying not to laugh.

Angela pulled out a Rolodex from her bottom desk drawer and flipped through it as she spoke. "So Bella. What brings you to school on a Saturday?"

"Nothing," Bella answered too quickly, sobering up. "I was just…" Edward flopped down in the seat next to her, suddenly interested in the conversation. "Showing Edward something," she finished, picking at her nails again.

"This 'something' wouldn't happen to be that blackened table sitting in one of your classrooms, would it?"

Bella gaped at her and Edward looked impressed. "You know about that?"

"Of course I do. This is Bullshit Detector Weber you're talking to," Angela grinned, pointing to herself. "I should start answering my phone like that."

"What are you going to do about the table?" Bella questioned cautiously, watching Angela take out a card from the Rolodex as well as her cell phone.

"Probably just put in a damage report and get the desk replaced," she answered, entering the numbers from the card into her phone.

"What if I've already replaced it?"

Angela glanced up from her phone at Bella in surprise, then shrugged and went looking through the Rolodex again. "Oh, well, if you've already taken care of it, then there's nothing more for me to do."

"Nothing at all?" Bella prodded timidly and Edward rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"There is the option of letting you go," Bella gulped, her eyes welling up and then Angela scoffed. "But I'm not going to fire you over a burnt table. That's a little harsh."

"Told you so," Edward said under his breath, giving Bella's foot a light kick and she slumped slightly in her seat, looking relieved. "You owe me bazillion dollars. Cash only please, I don't take checks."

Bella gave him a flat look and Angela returned her Rolodex into her drawer and smacked the top of her desk lightly with her hands. "Okay. So I've got the parents' information, which will let me bitch about their sons, and the number of the tech guy to call and ruin his weekend by trawling the Internet for the fight," Angela declared and then looked out the window, looking thoughtful. "But before I do any of that, I need to stuff my face with something preferably greasy that involves a lot of meat while I smoke my lungs out."

"Something greasy that involves a lot of meat, huh?" Edward mused with a smirk. "How do you feel about taco pizzas?"

**\\-\\**

An hour later, Angela, Bella and Edward sat around a table at the restaurant that served taco pizzas. Because they had chosen to be seated in the smoking section, the restaurant had placed them out their patio, on the far side, against the railing that faced the street a couple feet below them. Edward was three quarters of the way through his third pizza, Bella was finished with hers as was Angela, and they were discussing school pranks.

"I think the one prank that probably took the most effort," Angela said, tapping her cigarette against the ashtray, "would have to be this high school in New Jersey where I was the assistant principal. About four or five years ago, they listed the school for sale on the Internet."

"They tried to _sell_ the school?" Bella said in disbelief.

"Yup," Angela exhaled, the smoke catching in the slight breeze and going over her shoulder. "They took all these pictures of classrooms and went for it. Made a page for it on MySpace, put it up on eBay as well. I think there was even a listing on Craigslist. We couldn't figure out why we kept getting calls asking about what condition the desks and chairs were in."

"That's horrible," Bella commented, shaking her head.

"No, that's lame is what it is," Edward countered. "That's not a prank. A prank is putting teachers' cars into neutral and pushing them to the other end of the parking lot after school or slipping Ex-Lax brownies into cafeteria sales or squishing a dead mouse between the papers of a book on rodents in the library. Now _those_ are pranks," he emphasized, taking a bite of his pizza.

Angela laughed, taking a sip of her ginger ale and Bella frowned. "You did all those pranks, didn't you?"

"How dare you. I would never do those things," he sniffed and Bella rolled her eyes as a phone sitting on top of their table started to ring. Or yell, rather.

"…_stop cutting your own hair! Who cuts their own hair? Have you seen the back of your head? It's choppy and uneven. Ever heard of a mirror, dumbass? And what the hell is this scarf? It makes you look like one of those Euro fashion-blogger douchebags!"_

"Seriously?" Bella groaned, pushing the phone toward Edward, who was laughing to himself with other patrons of the restaurant turned and stared at their table.

"Oh my God, that voice. Who _was_ that?" Angela asked, staring at the now silent phone in horror as Edward checked his phone.

"Our friend Alice," Bella explained with a shake of her head and Angela mashed out her cigarette on the ashtray, looking confused. "She and Edward...don't particularly like each other. For no reason whatsoever."

Edward grunted in affirmation, still thumbing through his phone. "Alice always yells at me. From what I'm wearing to what I'm eating. So I recorded one of her rants one day and then made it my ringtone for her because I know it pisses her off."

"My friends are very mature and logical people," Bella told Angela in mock seriousness, who grinned in response.

"And also really good looking," Edward added, still immersed in his phone.

Bella rolled her eyes. "What did Alice want?"

"She found a box of my stuff while cleaning her apartment and I told her I'd go over around two to pick it up."

"It's now two forty-five."

"I know," Edward said, pocketing his phone and then drained his glass of water. "Hence why she called."

"She's going to kill you for being late," Bella warned and Angela lit up another cigarette, glancing between them both.

"I'm not scared of Alice," Edward scoffed, standing up from the table. "What's she gonna do? Bash me to death with her Fendi purse? …Shit," he muttered. "I hate that I know she owns one of those."

He shook his head and then took out his wallet. "Hey, don't worry about it," Bella told him as Edward placed some notes under his table setting. "I thought I got this."

"Nah, you can pay next time," Edward said, grinning. "Then I can order something more expensive," Bella tsked at him and Edward turned to Angela. "It was nice meeting you, Angela."

Angela switched her cigarette to her left hand so she could shake hands with him. "Yeah, you too," she said with a smile.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Edward said to Bella, and she nodded.

"Tomorrow," she echoed.

The waiter swooped in, as Edward walked away, and began clearing the table, with Bella picking up the cash Edward had left. She waited until the waiter was gone and then picked up her purse, and placed it on her lap.

"I should've ordered my pizza with no onions," Bella declared, rummaging through her bag. "My mouth feels all funky and gross and I need gum. Which I don't seem to have," she sighed and then added, "you got any, Angela?"

"Hmmm," was all Angela said in response, too busy staring out over the railing. Bella followed her gaze to see her attention focused on Edward who was now down at the street below them.

"Angela. You're staring."

"I know."

"…and you're still staring," Bella pointed out with a laugh.

"What that man does for a pair of jeans should be bottled and sold," Angela remarked, her tone serious and her head tilted sideways slightly. "He has an ass that's meant to be stared at."

"Does he now?" Bella said in amusement, because it was funny seeing someone who spent most of their time putting teenage boys into line now talking about her friend's ass.

Angela nodded slowly. "On a scale from one to ten, ten being the hottest a person can look, Edward is definitely a nineteen."

"Hey. That's from _Friends_," Bella remarked in surprise. "I didn't know you watched _Friends_."

"Ben did actually. Chandler's always been my favorite though," Angela replied and paused to flick some ash off her smoke. "But you acknowledge that he's a total dreamboat right?"

"I don't know about dreamboat, but Chandler does have that sarcastic humor thing going. Plus, he can be cute when he's with Monica –"

"I'm not talking about Chandler," Angela interjected warily, shaking her head. "I meant Edward."

"Oh. Ehh," Bella lifted her shoulders, scrunching her face up. "I guess Edward is kind of …cute?"

"No no, not cute," Angela shook her head. "Puppies are cute. Babies are cute. Edward is fuck hot."

"Fuck hot? I think you're spending way too much time around teenage boys."

"True dat," Angela said, taking another drag and just then, Edward glanced up from the street, waved and both Bella and Angela waved back. "So…you and Edward," Angela said and quirked her eyebrows at Bella, "just friends?"

"Just friends," Bella echoed, nodding, taking a sip of her water.

"You know that's crap, right?" Angela prompted. "A guy and a girl can never be just friends."

"Mmhmm," Bella hummed disinterestedly, waiting for the 'you and Edward are meant to be, but you just don't know it yet!' speech. She's heard the same old song over and over, but with a different beat each time.

"Okay, wait. Let me start again," Angela exhaled over her shoulder, and then straightened up in her chair, all business-like. "A guy and a girl CAN be friends –"

"Thank you."

"But," Angela continued and Bella scowled, muttering 'dammit.' "At one point or another, they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or…" she trailed off, waiting for Bella to look at her and when she did, Angela finished quietly, "or maybe forever."

Bella blinked, running the words over in her head for a moment and then said, "That was a really good line. Did you get that from a movie or something?"

"Oh, never mind," Angela quipped dryly, waving her hand dismissively at Bella, who smirked. "Speaking of movies though," she said suddenly, going back to staring out at the street. "I watched this movie last weekend about a guy who was in love with this girl he knew, but she was completely oblivious to it. At one point in the movie, she walks away from him and he tells himself 'if she turns back, then she loves me…'"

"And?" Bella prompted when Angela didn't continue. "Did she turn back?"

"Of course she did."

"Aww. That's so sweet," Bella cooed and then took in Angela's stance and put two and two together. "Wait a second…"

Angela grinned. "Edward knows we're still up here. If he turns back, then he loves you. Look, see? He's stalling," she noted, giddy. "It's because he's trying to get away far enough so you won't notice when he turns back."

"No," Bella dragged out. "It's because he's taking his time in going to Alice's. He won't rush for her," Bella rolled her eyes, adding, "and Edward is _not_ going to look back. I'm telling you, Angela."

"And _I'm _telling you he will," Angela countered with conviction, and turned her whole body to face the street. Edward was still in their sight, now half of a block away from them. "Turn back," Angela muttered to herself and Bella chuckled. "Turn back. Turn back, turn back, turn back."

"You can keep saying that to yourself, but it's never gonna happen," Bella said.

Angela ignored her and mashed out her cigarette. Giving her full attention to Edward, she started chanting: "Turn back. Come on, Edward, baby, turn back. Turn back…turn back. Dammit. TURN! AROUND!"

"Oh no, would you look at that," Bella mocked, glancing at Edward. "He's about to turn onto another street and he _still_ hasn't glanced back at me," Angela clenched her hands into fists, looking frustrated and Bella sighed theatrically. "Guess I'm just destined to die old and lonely."

"No. Fuck this. I want my movie moment," Angela stood up abruptly and leaned over the railing. "HEY! EDWARD!" she shouted and everyone in the restaurant, as well as some people in the street glanced up at her.

"Angela!" Bella gasped in mortification and sunk down in her seat. She glanced over at where Edward was and he had stopped too, looking back in their direction. He lifted his hand, gave a stiff wave and tilted his head slightly to the side, looking confused. Angela gave an over exaggerated wave back and Edward dropped his hand, turned the corner and disappeared from view.

"See?" Angela flopped down in her seat again, looking pleased as the other restaurant patrons turned back to their meals. "He turned around. A clear sign that he's totally head over heels in love with you."

"You are a crazy, _crazy_ lady, you know that?" Bella remarked, equal parts amused and shocked, as Angela continued to look smug as she looked through her bag. "And you forced Edward to look back. It doesn't count."

"Yeah, but he could've ignored me and kept on walking," Angela smirked, tossing a packet of gum at Bella. "But he didn't, so it counts."

"Whatever, Crazy."

**\\-\\**

_I've rolled over, back onto my stomach because I just noticed that I'm still wearing my watch. With my chin resting on her pillow, I fumble with the latch in the semidarkness of her room and I feel her stretch over and kiss my shoulder._

_Her fingers are on my back. "How long did all of this take?" _

_I finally get my watch off and place it on top of her nightstand. "Couple of years, give or take." I answer._

_She starts tracing around the middle of my back, moving up slowly. I close my eyes and let her fingers drive me crazy._

"_And these tattoos don't mean anything, right?" she prompts and I roll over on my side to face her again and she does the same, facing me. Our feet tangle together. It feels natural, as if we'd always been doing it._

"_No, nothing. It's all just a bunch of colors and patterns. Oh, and a fish. I'm pretty sure there's a fish back there. I have been thinking of getting another tattoo done though," I tell her. "About you."_

_She looks wary. "Me?"_

"_Yeah. I was thinking of getting your face, about yay big, right here," I make a square with my hands and press it to my chest. "What?" I say, when she shoves me, laughing. "Too small? I can get it done bigger if you like."_

"_Idiot," she pushes me again and I catch her hand, rolling onto my back and taking her with me. The top of Bella's head tucks under my chin and I smooth my hand over her hair. She sighs and I can feel her eyelashes against my skin._

"_Sleepy?"_

_She hums, moving closer. "You?"_

_I shrug one shoulder. "I don't really get sleepy anymore. I haven't had a good nights sleep since…I don't know, 1997."_

"_Why is that?"_

"_Dragons__." I know she'll get what I mean when I say that._

"_Ahh," she wriggles out of my arms and pushes herself off my chest. "Well, you've got a fresh pillow here–" she pats the pillow and then runs her hands against the small space between us. "And I know that this is just a mattress, but these sheets are Egyptian cotton and very comfy," her expression turns serious as she leans over me and touches my face. "Sleep. I'll guard against those dragons."_

_I don't answer. I just lie there on my back looking up at her, concentrating on the feeling of her hand on my cheek. Her eyes are soft and she's holding my face between her hands and I'm sure she can see past the dragons to all the important things there._

_I just want that, the way I feel when I'm with her. Just having it make all the bad things better. She looks and she understands and knows me like no else has before._

"_Alright. I'll sleep," I kiss her gently and then move closer so that I'm face first on her chest._

"_Great. But, um – the pillow's up here."_

"_I know. But this way, I get two pillows and they're ten times better than any cotton from any country. Trust me."_

_She laughs once and her hands go to my hair. "Okay."_

_I sigh and brush my nose against her skin. Reaching up, I take one of her hands and wrap it in mine before closing my eyes._

* * *

><p>That 'dragons' comment will make sense next chapter. I'm actually really nervous about it because it's a bit on the '~srs bsns' side...<p>

Bad grammar, punctuation and incorrect spelling are my dragons and ****souplover9**** slays them with her sword of a red pen.

Every single person out there reading this is so flinging-flanging awesome. I heart you guys a lot.

**Nex****t chapter: Popcorn fights and trading life stories on the kitchen floor.**

_Will xoxo_


	8. A fallen cheesecake is still delicious

_**Sunday**__**, 7:45pm**_

"Hello?"

"It's me….wait, Rosalie?"

"Yeah. Hey, Edward," Rosalie said through Bella's intercom. "I'm just about to leave. You can come up."

"'Kay. Thanks," Edward replied and Rosalie answered the door when he reached it a couple of minutes later. "Hey," he greeted, when she let him into Bella's apartment.

"Bella's in the kitchen making popcorn for you guys," Rosalie told him and Edward nodded, making his way there, but she put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Uh, she's in a foul mood, just so you know," she said in a low voice. "Brunch with her mom this morning was pretty brutal. We spent the rest of the day watching _Pretty Little Liars_ and eating takeout."

"Yeah? Takeout from where?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Japanese and it doesn't matter, because there's none left anyway," Edward looked disappointed and she continued. "Just don't push her or say anything that'll set her off, okay?"

"Would I really do that?" Edward asked innocently and Rosalie gave him a flat look and he grinned. "Relax. It'll be fine. I love cranky Bella."

They walked together to the kitchen and found Bella leaning back against her countertop of the island in her kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest, looking fixedly at her powering microwave.

"Evening Doctor Swan," Edward announced cheerfully and Rosalie gave him a 'what did _just_ say?' look.

"Evening," Bella muttered back, still staring at the rotating popcorn bag in her microwave.

Rosalie picked up her bag on the kitchen stool. "Well, I have dinner plans with Emmett at eight thirty, so I'm gonna go Bella."

"Okay," Bella said to her microwave. "Thanks for coming today. I'll call you later this week. Bye."

"Alright. Bye Edward," Rosalie mouthed 'good luck' to him and he nodded.

"See ya," Edward replied and she let herself out.

The microwave beeped its completion and Bella took out the popcorn, emptying it into a large yellow bowl. She glanced at Edward to see him bent over a little with his head inside her fridge. She stretched her leg out, nudging the back of his knee with her foot and Edward buckled slightly.

"What are you looking for?" Bella asked, shaking the popcorn bowl and he straightened up at the waist, still looking into the fridge.

"Nothing. I'm trying to see that if I stare a little longer," Edward widened his eyes at the shelves in the fridge. "Maybe some real food will appear in here."

"Well, there's popcorn for you right here and could you shut the door?" Bella ordered grumpily. "You're wasting energy and bringing up my power bill."

"Sorry," Edward shut it and then took something out of his back pocket, placing it on the countertop and picked up the bowl of popcorn. "Movie for us to watch tonight."

Bella glanced at the title on the DVD and then shook her head straight away. "No," she emphasized heavily and Edward shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "No, no, no. We're not watching this."

"Yesh vee arr."

"No!" Bella shot back loudly, remembering when the movie was released and her students would talk about the movie in class. In graphic detail. "I don't want to watch _The Human Caterpillar_."

Edward swallowed. "It's Centipede."

"I don't care," she snapped. "We're not watching it. Watch it in your own time."

"No, come _on_!" Edward urged and she glared at him. "Bella, it'll be fine. No big deal, it's just a movie," he tucked the bowl of popcorn in the crook of his arm and picked up the DVD. "Take it like a man and let's go."

He started to move away when Bella made to snatch the DVD out of Edward's hand, but he dodged it easily. She let out a sound of frustration, trying again and he blocked her. This was repeated two, three more times with zero success, so Bella starting hitting him.

"Are you fighting me?" Edward said, amused as she thumped his chest. "You're miniature…you fight like a hamster!"

"I don't want to watch this stupid MOVIE!" Bella exclaimed in exasperation, shoving him hard and he laughed, barely moving, which angered her even more. "Fine. Fine! Watch your stupid movie. But just so you know," she added smugly, knowing it would annoy him. "I'm gonna talk through the entire thing."

Edward shrugged. "Talk through the movie. I don't care."

"Are you sure?" Bella questioned with raised eyebrows. "Because I'm gonna talk and talk and talk. During the whole thing. Talktalktalktalk."

"Then I'll just put the volume up over you. And also, do this," Edward retorted and threw a handful of popcorn at her. Bella gasped, stumbling back slightly and then straightened her spine, flaring up.

"Well, then maybe I'll just yell over it!" she took a deep breath and then started shouting as loud as she could. "YOU KNOW, MAYBE LIKE THIS? JUST TALKING REAL LOUD. LOUD NOISES! LOUUUUUDDD NOISES!"

"Please don't," Edward said seriously, throwing more popcorn, but she ignored it.

"MAYBE I'LL EVEN START RECITING THINGS. NERDY THINGS, EVEN. LIKE THE PERIODIC TABLE. YEAH, I THINK I WILL. I'LL START WITH NOBLE GASES: HE-HELIUM, NE-NEON –"

"You're making me waste precious food!" Edward shouted, hurling more popcorn at her.

"– POST TRANSITION METALS. AI-ALUMINIUM, GA-GALLIUM – AHH!"

Bella cut off with a loud shriek because of two things happening in quick succession. One – the bowl of popcorn was upended over her head. And two – the light bulb in the kitchen popped and died, with the only source of light in Bella's apartment coming from her bedroom some feet away.

"I'm going to kick you. Really hard."

"Can't do that if you're wearing this," Edward placed the bowl on top of her head and the rim slid down over eyes, stopping at the bridge of her nose. He cracked up, knocking his knuckles against the top of the bowl. "This is a good look for you."

In spite of herself, Bella laughed too, feeling all the strain from her day fade. She let out a long exhale, lifting the bowl off her head and slid down against the cabinets to the kitchen floor.

"What a mess," she commented and gathered up some popcorn, putting it back in the bowl. Edward sat down against the cabinets opposite her, stretching his legs out. "Sorry about all the hitting…and the yelling," she added sheepishly.

"You should be. You hit really hard for a hamster," Edward mocked and then paused for a moment. "It felt good to yell though, right?"

"Yeah, it did," Bella admitted and leant her head back against the cabinets, some stray popcorn falling from her hair and stared up at the ceiling. She felt a headache coming on, but the fact that they were now in almost complete darkness helped some. "God, today was the worst. I don't know why I let Renée get to me so much. She's such a piece of work."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah. I think my stupid yelling tantrum was enough for now. But I don't want to watch that movie either though," Bella said sternly and she heard Edward huff at her in the dark. "Talk about something else instead."

"Alright. Ask me what happened today."

"What happened today?"

"I got offered a job," Edward declared. "And it's not a temp job. It's a semi permanent one."

"Really? That's great!" Bella replied sincerely.

"Ehh. It's great, but it also isn't," he mused and then explained. "Good because of the money which I could use to pay off some things and plus, I'd get housing and travel expenses."

"Housing and travel expenses? Where is this job?"

"California," Edward said. "That's the bad part."

"Oh," she frowned, confused about why California would be bad. "Well, what's the job? What will you be doing?"

"Construction mostly. This guy that I worked on the last job I did, Sam, he knows someone that needs workers for a company that's bringing up all these housing divisions across the state. L.A, Sacramento, San Francisco, all over."

"That sounds pretty cool," Bella commented and then squinted at Edward in the dark. "So, I'm confused…why is California bad exactly? Did you have a bad experience at Disneyland? Did you freak out when Mickey Mouse's head fell off and there was a human being inside? Did one of those chipmunks touch you in your special place?"

"Funny," Edward muttered dryly and Bella waited for him to continue.

"No, seriously," Bella prodded when he didn't. "Why is California bad?"

"What do you mean, why is California bad?" Edward asked curtly.

"I mean...what I mean. Why is California bad?"

"Uh, because I hate it?" Edward replied sarcastically. "Duh."

"Since when do you hate California?"

"Since forever…?" Edward said slowly.

"Why?"

"What the fuck? Bella!" Edward snapped and Bella was taken aback by his sharp tone. She'd never heard him use that voice before or in fact get angry about anything. And in the dark, he sounded especially harsh.

"What?"

"Why are you asking me about California?" Edward asked coldly.

"Because I'm confused! Why are you getting so mad at me?"

"Because you're making it seem like you don't know anything about it!"

"That's because I don't!"

Edward and Bella sat there in the dark for a few moments – Bella feeling hurt and Edward angry, but both of them feeling confused at the same time.

Bella took a steadying breath before she spoke again. "I really don't know anything about California, Edward. Why do you hate it so much?"

"California is where I went to rehab," Edward told her flatly. "Along with a whole heap of other shit I did there too." Bella was stunned into silence, not expecting that answer and Edward added exasperatingly, "I swear to God, if you say that you didn't know I was in rehab –"

"No, I knew. I knew," Bella interjected hurriedly, vaguely remembering.

It had been three months after they had met and Bella was hanging out with Alice, just the two of them at her and Jasper's apartment. Edward had been in between apartments and living with them for a little while and the phone rang while Alice was in the bathroom.

"Bella! Could you get that?" Alice had called out.

"Are you sure?" Bella called back, uncertain.

"Yeah, it's fine! Just take a message! There's a notepad and a pen next to the handset!"

"Okay!" Bella approached the phone cautiously, feeling nervous for an unknown reason and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hi. Could I speak to Edward Masen please?" a polite, male voice answered.

"He's not here right now," Bella replied. "But I can pass on a message to him if you'd like?"

"Yes, thank you," the voice responded and Bella clicked the pen, hovering over the notepad. "Could you let Edward know that Doctor Grenady from The Sanctuary House would like to talk to him and to call me back when he has the chance? He has my number."

"Doctor Grenady from The Sanctuary House," Bella repeated, scribbling it down. "Okay. I'll make sure Edward gets this."

Bella ended the call and read over what she had written, hoping that it was legible enough when Alice walked out of the bathroom.

"Who was it?" Alice asked and Bella passed the message to her. "Oh, yeah. This guy," Alice nodded, reading. "Edward's 'recovery coach' from when he spent time away on a 'retreat,'" she stated, making air quotes and Bella blinked at her. "Translation – he's one of the counselors from when Edward was in rehab. He's probably calling to get payment that Edward still owes them," Alice explained and then took the pen from Bella, adding _'Hey douchebucket – a call came for you today:'_ to the top of the message Bella took. She stuck the message to the fridge. "Thanks Bella."

"No problem," Bella replied distractedly, eyeing the message. When Alice changed the subject to something else, Bella mentally stored the message away to ask Edward, but then it slipped her mind. And whenever she did remember, she never knew how to raise the subject, and it never hindered anything that she and Edward did, so him being in rehab was never a big concern to her. Until now.

"I knew you were in rehab," Bella said to Edward now. "I just never knew the when, where, why details."

"So, basically…" Edward commented dryly. "We've been friends for over a year, and all you know about me is my name. And nothing else."

Bella nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her in the dark. "Pretty much. I know your name is Edward Masen, but I don't know your story."

"You forgot my middle name."

"You have a middle name?"

"Anthony."

"Edward Anthony Masen," Bella recited. "Huh. That's kinda nice."

"It was my father's name," Edward muttered and then she heard him let out a sigh and shift on the floor. "I'm sorry I got mad before," he said seriously. "That was a colossal asshat move, lashing out at you like that. I thought you were making fun and California is the one thing I'm kinda touchy about."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Bella said lightly, hoping to lighten the serious tone that was between them. "It's partly my fault as well for knowing about you being in rehab but never making the effort to ask."

"Yeah. Let's put the blame on you for being a shitty friend and not caring enough to ask," Edward teased.

"Yes, exactly."

"Except you're not a shitty friend," Edward said. "You're actually a really really really really really awesome friend."

"Thanks. And you're a really really really really really awesome friend too," Bella replied, grinning and then added, "I feel like we should trade life stories now."

Edward hummed. "Except I already know your life story."

"Really."

"You don't believe me?" Edward prompted, catching Bella's dubious tone. "Alright. Let's see…" he paused and Bella waited, feeling both amused and intrigued as to how much Edward knew about her.

Edward began, putting on a voice. "Born Isabella Marie Swan, you grew up in Washington in the small town of Spatula –"

"Forks," Bella corrected with a laugh. "I was born in Forks, not Spatula. What kind of town name is Spatula?"

"What kind of town name is Forks?" Edward scoffed and Bella rolled her eyes. "Anyway. You're parents, Charlie, the mayor of Forks –"

"Police chief."

"Right, yeah. Forks probably isn't even big enough for a mayor anyway."

"Excuse you," Bella sniffed. "We have a Target, thank you very much."

"Oh, you have a _Target_," Edward mocked. "I didn't know that. That means you get to play with the big-kid towns, right?"

"Shut up," Bella drawled and he snickered. "What else you got?"

"Okay. Your dad Charlie and mom Renée split up when you were young. By the time you finished elementary school, you're parents realize how smart you are and put you through highly academic, grade accelerated private schools. There, your intelligence grew to monsieur level –"

"Mensa. 'Monsieur' is 'sir' in French."

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Edward said. "Anyway. You were valedictorian at your school, graduating at fifteen and got accepted into Harvard. Because you took college level courses for early credit in high school, you powered through your double degree in education and science and graduated summa-cum-laude at nineteen. Then you spent eighteen months traveling around Europe and England on a working holiday before returning back to the States and back to Harvard. You did your doctorate in science and once you finished that, you got a job teaching at a highly academic, grade accelerated private school in New York. You made friends, one of them being particularly handsome, blablabla you know the rest. The end," Edward declared and Bella laughed. "So? How'd I do for knowing your life story?"

"Not bad. I especially liked the 'blablabla' part," Bella said, amused. "That was a fun time in my life."

"It was. I was there for the whole thing," Edward said as Bella scooted over to his side of the kitchen, because he had his back to the sink. She placed the popcorn bowl in the sink above him and stayed next to him on the floor.

"I would do your life story," Bella remarked hesitantly. "Except I don't have much to go on."

"That's probably a good thing," Edward replied. Even though it was still dark in her kitchen, from this angle next to him and in the faint light coming from her room, she could make out his dark expression, like a shadow had fallen over him. "It's a long and crazy story."

"That's okay. You can tell me whatever you want to tell me."

"I don't even know where to start." He muttered.

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end. Then stop."

Edward cracked a reluctant smile. "Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter?"

"Actually, the king said it," Bella told him and then paused to think. "How about if I ask you questions and we'll go from there?"

"Yeah. That sounds good," Edward said and then took a deep breath and nodded at her. "Hit me."

She eyed his arms. "Do the tattoos mean anything?" Bella began with that because she was genuinely curious about them.

"The ones on my back I got when I lived above a tattoo parlor for awhile. But they don't really mean anything." He pulled at the collar of his blue hoodie and slipped it over his head, with a faded grey t-shirt underneath. He raised his left arm up, the one closest to Bella so she could see. "The ones on my arms I got to cover the track marks, but they don't mean anything either."

She squinted, trying to see, but the light wasn't bright enough to see what he meant by 'track marks.' "I didn't know you had ink on your back," she commented. "How many do you have?"

"A lot," Edward answered. "It's not just one or two. My whole back is covered in ink."

"What about family?" she prompted. "You've never mentioned them before."

"I don't have any," Edward said. "When I was born, I got left behind by my mom in a Chicago hospital. She never came back to claim me and neither did my dad. They couldn't track them down and all they had was my birth certificate so I got put into the foster care system."

He caught Bella's grimace and shrugged one shoulder. "I think I do have family, someone, somewhere. I vaguely remember some guy wanting to meet me when I was about fourteen years old. But I was a bratty little shit and wasn't keen on listening to what he had to say. I think he might have been an uncle, wanting to take me out of the system and adopt me, I don't know."

"What was it like?" Bella questioned curiously. "Being a foster kid?"

"It was okay," Edward answered. "Not the greatest way to grow up, but most of the families I got sent to were good people. I think they just couldn't handle the way I acted out as a kid. I did all the things you shouldn't – lied, scammed people, stole, drank and did drugs. Then it spiraled out of control and landed me in rehab."

"For drug addiction?"

"Yeah. Substance abuse, specifically crystal meth," Edward gave a sideways glance at Bella and then he looked amused. "And judging by the look on your face, that's _not_ what you were expecting me to say."

It wasn't but she tried to hide the surprise in her voice. "I've never seen you with a drink. So I just...I assumed that it was…"

Edward hummed, nodding, his face clouding over again. "I did drink a lot. But it was more of a secondary thing compared to the drugs. When I decided to get clean, I wanted to see how far I could stretch myself. To see if I could handle it. So far, so good."

"How long have you been clean?"

"I've been clean and sober for three years."

"Three years. That's really great," Bella told him sincerely and then took a deep breath, taking it all in. "Crystal meth. That's not so great."

"Not so much," Edward muttered and then ran a hand over his head before continuing. "When that uncle guy, whoever he was, came and talked to me, he said he was going to take me back to where he lived in Washington or Wisconsin, I can't remember where, and told me all about how great it was going to be with my other cousins. He told me all about how I was going to get my own room and be enrolled in this great school and all this other super awesome, happy, fantastic stuff that I was going to get," he remarked and gave a short, sardonic laugh, making Bella blink. She'd never heard him do that.

"So what happened?"

"I freaked. My head went –" Edward made an explosion like noise, along with hand actions near his head, "–at everything he was telling me, so I ran away. The foster family I was with lived near the city, so I took off there and lived on the streets or on people's couches and in homeless shelters. Wherever.

"That's where it all started. About three months after I ran away from home, some guy offered me some heroin and he taught me how to take it. How to find a vein and told me not to share needles with other people so I wouldn't get HIV. Eventually I started dealing too. I started with heroin and then moved on to pot, then cocaine, then ecstasy, and then I stopped being fussy and took anything I could get my hands on. When I was sixteen, a guy I knew was moving to California and asked if I wanted to go with him. So I said yes, moved from Chicago to California, where I lived above a tattoo parlor…and also where I discovered meth."

From there Edward went into garish detail about what his life was like in California. From an uncomfortable, drug fueled threesome with a violent paranoiac on his nineteenth birthday, to a thirty three year old single mother shooting meth into his neck while her kid watched Sesame Street in the next room. Then he moved on to being in rehab and going through their very brutal detox program.

Bella lived her life in a good way. Apart from her parents splitting up when she was young, she had never suffered any hardships. Because of this, life had mostly brought her good things. She believed in goodness. She believed that things would work out. Even the worst things would work out.

She believed in a happy ending.

The good in her life made her that way. She spent so much time on the bright side that she didn't believe that the other side existed. But now Bella watched Edward tell his story and it was too much, too _real_. It made her uncomfortable, as if her chest were going to cave in. As he spoke, Edward's face was a mask, his demeanor stiff. There were no easy smiles, no happy eyes—just planes, angles and grimness.

Bella blinked twice, realizing that Edward had stopped talking and was now staring at her.

"I'm saying too much, aren't I?" His voice sounded thin.

"No," she answered too quickly and Edward noticed.

"You look like you're about two seconds away from yelling and kicking at me again."

"I didn't kick you," Bella corrected automatically and Edward just stared at her. She added, "but yeah, okay. It's a little much," and then shifted closer to Edward so she could lean against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm still here though."

Edward thawed and smiled faintly, resting his cheek against the top of her head. "You can handle listening to your friend's stories about his shitty past. Which means I'm pretty sure you can take –"

"We're not watching _The Human Centipede_, Edward."

"Dammit," he muttered and they sat in silence for a moment before speaking again.

"When you went to rehab," Bella stated and she picked her head up from his shoulder and turned to face him again. "Was that forced or did you admit yourself?"

Edward shook his head. "You can't get forcefully committed unless you're a danger to yourself or to other people."

"So it was voluntary then?"

"Yeah. I cut myself off at first, went cold turkey. That lasted all of three weeks and then I was back to shooting up in trailer park bathrooms and banging female junkies in dirty hotel rooms. I could have probably kept going and going until I died. I was twenty-four by then, not a kid anymore. No one was going to stop me. No one was going to do anything.

"And then it got bad," Edward said, staring at the cupboard in front of him with glassy eyes. "I hadn't slept for five days. I had always managed to keep things under control, but it was getting harder and harder. It felt like there were all these things piling up, the drugs and the dealing and the sex, and I felt like I was going to explode.

"I was out of my mind, but I can remember picking up a copy of the Yellow Pages, getting the address of the first place listed under 'drug rehabilitation' and driving there. I walked in and went to the front desk and I think I said something like, 'Hi, I'd like to go to rehab please.'"

"How polite," Bella commented with a half smile and then added, "How long were you in rehab for?"

"It took about eighteen months for me to get completely sober – physically, mentally, orthodontic-ly.

A surprised laugh slipped out of Bella's mouth. "Orthodontic-ly?"

"Meth fucks up your mouth worse than sugar," he informed her. "I injected more than smoked, but my mouth was still gross. Took thousands of dollars to get it to what it is now, hence why I need the money to pay it off."

"Oh," Bella screwed up her face. "Sorry I laughed."

"It's okay. I meant for you to laugh," Edward told her.

"Eighteen months," Bella echoed, remembering Edward had moved to the city when he was around twenty-six and she did the math.

"So, you came to New York within a year of leaving rehab," Bella commented.

"Yeah, pretty much," Edward told her in affirmation. "One of the counselors told me that it would be beneficial for me to get as far away from California as possible, at least for awhile. My plan was to go to New York, do some grease-monkey jobs for a year and then go to Europe."

"What happened?"

"I met Tanya."

"Aww," Bella cooed and in the dark she could make out the incredulous look Edward gave her.

"What are you 'awing' about? We're not together anymore."

"I know," Bella remarked with a shrug. "It's still sweet though, y'know? A guy has a set plan in his life but it gets interrupted when he meets a girl. Like in a movie," Edward continued to look at her oddly and she was reminded of Angela and her antics the day before at the restaurant. "Never mind. It's a girl thing," Bella said quickly and then added, "anyway. Europe – is that still the plan?"

"Eventually, yeah."

"You know where you should go? Spain," Bella told him firmly and Edward looked amused. "They have the _best_ food there. Paella, Chorizo, churros. _Soo_ good."

"Those are some good names for food," Edward mused, nodding.

"Right?" Bella said in agreement. "Speaking of food, you want to order takeout or something?"

"Nah. Actually, what time is it?" Edward took out his cellphone and glanced at the time. "I should probably head home. It's past eleven."

"Wait, what? Did you just say _no_ to food? Are you feeling okay?"

"You have school tomorrow," Edward told her, standing up and held out his hand, helping Bella up from the floor as well. "Plus, I should let you clean all this mess up," he added, stepping on some popcorn, making the mess worse.

"Don't!" Bella protested and she moved carefully over the piles of popcorn toward the cupboard that held her cleaning supplies and Edward stepped on more popcorn behind her back. "And this is _your_ mess, not mine. You're helping me clean it up."

"What? You started it," Edward countered and Bella gave him a cold look over her shoulder. "You _did_. I was just trying to do your neighbors a favor and stop all that yelling."

"Edward, you turned a bowl full of popcorn over my head. And it was still _warm_." she emphasized irritably and then twisted her upper body. "Half of it is still down my shirt."

"Okay. That," Edward said to her chest, "I'm willing to help you with. Ah! Dammit, Bella," he whined, flinching away from her.

Bella had thwacked his shoulder hard with the handle of the broomstick, which he didn't see coming because he was distracted. They spent the next few minutes bickering over cleaning their mess up, with Edward finally giving in and helping out, then chatting normally as Bella walked Edward out of her building because she had to check her mail down in the main lobby. Outside, the air was cold and Bella could feel that it was about to rain soon.

"Should've grabbed a sweater," Bella muttered, rubbing her bare arms in the chilly air while eyeing the hooded blue sweatshirt that Edward held in his hand. Edward noticed and sighed, holding it out to her. "Thanks," Bella grinned, pulling it on and then hugged herself. "Comfy."

"You're not keeping that. I want it back."

"Yeah, yeah. You'll get your precious sweatshirt back," Bella dismissed, waving a sleeve at him, because her arms were swimming his long sleeves. "So when do you leave for a California?"

"They want me out there by next month," Edward answered, staring out at the road from where they stood at the top of the stairs into Bella's building. "Which gives me about three weeks to get ready, pack up my stuff and sublet my apartment."

"When will you be back?"

"Sam thinks that the housing project should finish up around mid-year. September maybe."

"September?" Bella repeated, staring at him with her mouth open. "That's eight months away. You'll be gone for _eight _months?"

"I'll be there during the summer," Edward told her with a shrug. "You can come visit me."

"Maybe," she said doubtfully, feeling dejected at the thought of him being away for so long. "I might not be able to though. I signed up to take on a couple of classes at NYU over summer break."

It was Edward's turn to be incredulous. "_More_ studying? Seriously, how many degrees do you want?"

"I'll be teaching a class, not studying," Bella said, scowling. "And you make it sound like I have so many. I only have two degrees."

"Only," Edward muttered and he jerked away as she smacked a sleeve at his side, moving down one step. "Okay. I've had enough violence for one night…or ever, actually. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Bella nodded and before Edward turned away, she moved forward and did something they'd never done in the two years they've have known each other–she hugged him. Edward wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug instinctively, and laughed once.

"Is this a pity hug for telling you about my dragons?" he questioned, sounding amused.

"What dragons?"

"It's this metaphor they made us use in rehab. You know, like 'dragons' are the bad things that get you admitted; 'slaying' them is the process of getting better and the people that 'guard' against the dragons are the ones that help and stand by you post rehab."

"It sounds like you went to rehab in the medieval era," Bella mumbled against his shoulder just as a breeze went by, sharp and cold, hitting her in the face. She shivered against him. Edward squeezed her once before pulling away. He managed a slight smile but Bella noticed that he seemed tired or withdrawn, as if visiting the past had drained him.

"You should head back inside," Edward instructed, moving down a step. He nodded to the door behind Bella and widened his eyes. "If you get sick, then you wont be able to teach and nerd out on your students. And then you'd cry, calling me about it, still in tears, and–"

Bella moved to hit him again and Edward dodged her easily again, smirking. He jumped down the last couple of steps, saying goodnight over his shoulder as he walked away. Bella then realized that she had to back to a dark kitchen and probably should've asked Edward to replace the light bulb before he left.

She also realized that she still had his sweatshirt on; but feeling too warm and comfortable, she didn't bother calling him back. Instead, she watched Edward walk away until she couldn't anymore.

**\\-\\**

_I wake up and I know that I haven't been asleep for very long. I also realize that I'm the only one in bed and I roll over on my back, squinting at the only source of light in her room. Bella's stands in front of her open closet, using the gleam from the screen of her cell phone to look for something._

"_What are you doing?"_

_My voice startles her and she lets out a squeak and spins around to face me._

"_Sorry. You okay?"_

_She nods. "I'm fine."_

"_Yeah. You are fine," she's wearing my shirt, with only two buttons around her middle done up and I eye her legs appreciatively._

_She closes the door to her closet, making that snuffing sound whenever I say something dumb and explains. "You fell asleep but I couldn't, so I thought I'd check how my birthday present's doing," she tells me, grinning and climbs back on the bed, kneeling beside me._

_I sit up and glance at the door that leads to her bathroom. "And is he okay?"_

"_He's asleep. It's so adorable," she uses the same voice from this afternoon and even now, it still makes me laugh. She ignores me, waving her cell phone. "I took about seven hundred photos with my phone. I'll show you later."_

"_Yay, fun," I deadpan and she hits me over the head with something. "Okay, ow. What did you just hit me with?"_

"_I remembered that I have something of yours," she makes her phone light up again and I recognize my blue hooded sweatshirt in her lap._

"_I've been looking for that," I say, surprised to see it. "Where'd you find it?"_

"_You let me wear it and I forgot to give it back to you," she answers, and I try to remember. "It was just before you left."_

_Oh yeah. It was the night I found out I got the job with Carlisle's company and I told her all these stories on her kitchen floor in the dark, surrounded by popcorn and then she put her arms around me out in the cold. I remember wanting to hug her until my arms ached and the urge to kiss her when we pulled away. But I didn't because it would have been for the wrong reasons and I knew she'd hate me for it and that I'd hate myself as well._

_But now I don't need a reason to kiss or hug her and I won't hate myself for doing either of those things. _

_While I was lost in my head, she's taken off my shirt and has started pulling my hoodie over her own head. I duck my head under the hem, stretching the fabric over my head and shoulders to be face to face so I can kiss her._

_Before our mouths connect, she laughs and says, "Edward, what are you doing?"_

_Then I finally do kiss her, pulling the hoodie off and press her back against the bed. Touching Bella makes everything better and we get lost in lips, hands, hair and faces._

_I don't know what I'm doing. But I know what I can give her. My lips move over every inch of her face promising her._

_Hundreds._

_Thousands._

_Of moments like this._

* * *

><p>Okay, I <em>know<em> you're not supposed to ask for reviews but I'm nervous and anxious and worried about this chapter, so I would reallyreallyreally love some feedback on it. I just want to know what people thought - or about anything that's happened in the story so far. It can be good feedback, bad feedback, shouty caps feedback, I don't mind.

****souplover9**** is the cake-ball making Mushu of the world. True story.

Delicious, dropped on the floor cheesecake for everyone that reads/alerts/reviews etc. Hooray!


	9. We were on a BREAK is not an excuse

_**Saturday,**__** 2:21pm**_

"Hello?"

"What do you want for your birthday?"

"Um….a canoe."

"A canoe?" Edward repeated, bewildered. "What's a canoe?"

"You know, a canoe. One of those small, narrow boats that you use in the water," Bella explained and heard what she thought were seagulls from his end of the phone.

"Oh, _that_ canoe."

"Yeah. What did you think I was talking about?"

"I thought it might've been a brand name for a perfume or something. I dunno."

"Right. Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"I was being sarcastic," Bella told him. "I don't really want a canoe for my birthday."

Edward laughed. "Yeah, I got that. Thanks though. What are you up to anyway? No, wait. Lemme guess," he said. "It's Saturday afternoon there and school is back…" he paused. "This means that you're in Central Park, grading schoolwork with, either a Tupperware full of fruit salad, a yoghurt, _or_ some sort of fruit or nut based product."

"It's a packet of trail mix actually," Bella muttered. She was in Sheep Meadow, her favorite spot in the entire park. It was within viewing-distance of the lake, but far away enough from the worst tourist traps that it didn't feel gimmicky. "And yeah, I'm in Central Park, grading papers. How'd you know that?"

"Everyone knows you grade papers in the park on weekends," Edward replied in a matter-of-fact tone and then he sighed into the phone. "Wish I was in Central Park. I wish I was anywhere but here."

"Why? What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just killing time at the beach."

"Seriously? You'd rather be sitting in a park in the middle of the city than at the beach?"

"Bella, it's like hell here," Edward said with seriousness. "The waves are really, really loud, sand is getting in places that I didn't even know sand could _get _to and the sun is so harsh that even though I'm in the shade under a tree, I'm pretty sure I'm still getting burnt. So yeah," Edward concluded, "I'd rather be sitting in a park than at the beach."

"Sun, surfing and sand are known to be holy terrors."

"Exactly," Edward replied, missing her sarcasm yet again, and Bella rolled her eyes. "Soon though. Soon I'll be back in New York, to weirdoes on the subway, crowded and noisy streets, and the smog and pollution of the city."

"Yay for smog and pollution," Bella deadpanned and he laughed.

Because of their schedules, time difference, and Edward traveling all over the state, Edward and Bella go from calling each other every day and meeting up constantly in New York, to only two or three phone calls a week. They email, but Edward grew to hate that fairly quickly. Because he likes to talk instead of write, he records himself on his laptop and emails voice messages for Bella to listen to.

Depending on the day Edward had just had, it would either be an enthusiastic recording or an unenthusiastic one. The enthusiastic recordings mostly involve him talking about food. The most popular topic is what a national travesty it is that _'In N Out'_ isn't franchised back east and that he's genuinely thinking of opening a branch when he returns to New York.

The unenthusiastic recordings usually consist of places or landmarks in California that remind him about all the 'stupid, dumbass shit' he used get away with. Over the past eight months, Bella has listened to more unenthusiastic recordings than enthusiastic ones.

"Soon," Bella echoed musingly. "Those eight months went by really quick. How soon is soon?

"Not that soon. I'll still miss your birthday this Tuesday, which sucks," Edward mentioned. "This last housing project in Malibu feels like it's never going to end and –"

"No, it's fine," Bella interrupted. "It's in the middle of the week anyway and I'm just going out to dinner, nothing big."

"It's your thirtieth. You should be –"

"Shh!" Bella snapped at him. "You're not supposed to say the number out loud! Christ, Edward."

"Thirty. Thirty! THIRTY!" Edward yelled into the phone, laughing as Bella groaned. "So, all you're doing is dinner? That's it?" he prompted.

"Yeah. I have work during the day and then dinner with the gang at night."

"Of course you'd be working on your birthday," Edward mumbled. "Such a workaholic."

"I'm not a workaholic," Bella retorted hotly.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"No, Bella. You _literally_ are a workaholic," Edward told her firmly and Bella scoffed. "All you do is teach. Summer came and went, and what did you do? You taught two classes at NYU. In the summer, you're supposed to get _out_ of the city and take a break. Go on vacation. You know, a holiday? It's how some people do things here on planet Earth."

"Well, there was no where I wanted to go during summer," Bella argued. "Where would I have gone?"

"Somewhere. Anywhere," Edward replied in exasperation. "Throw a dart at a map, see where it lands and then go there."

Bella laughed, shaking her head. "No one actually does that."

He exhaled into the phone. "Fine. Be boring then. Just keep working forever and never leave the city. Don't do anything other than go to work in the day and then at night, stay in your apartment like a hermit, watching whatever you recorded in your DVR, eating cheese in your blue Snuggie and –"

"Fine. Fine!" Bella groaned. "Next break I get, I'll get out of my apartment and go somewhere that's not in the city. Alright?"

"Yes. Okay," Edward replied, appeased. "I better go. I have a barbeque I need to get to."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Sort of a celebration/party thing because the project is nearly done. Wanna guess who's throwing it?" Edward questioned in amusement. "Hint – it's at my boss's place."

Bella perked up. "You're going to _Carlisle's_?"

Edward laughed. "I still don't get why you like his name so much."

"Because it's fun to say!" Bella said, grinning. "Carlisle. Carrrrr-lyyyyell. Carlisle. Carlisle Carlisle Carlisle."

"And I thought Alice was the unbalanced one."

She sighed happily. "Such a great name. It's so old-fashioned and regal sounding. Next time I get something that needs a name, I'm gonna call it Carlisle."

"You know what I should do?" Edward declared suddenly. "I should use this as a conversation starter with him at the barbeque – I have this friend, her name's Bella and she's _obsessed_ with your name, even though she's never met you before in her life. She's also has this violent streak and is known to kill a hamster or two."

"Oh my God! Don't tell him that," Bella said in mortification. "Carlisle is gonna think I'm some crazed, psycho person who kills hamsters. Even though I _don't_," she added sternly and Edward snickered. "I just like saying his name, that's all."

"Don't worry. I won't say anything," Edward said, his tone overly sweet. "Your obsession is safe with me."

"Edward, I'm serious. Don't you dare tell your boss anything about me. Or to anyone else."

"What? I ca – _krrrrr _– hear – _krr krr_ – pho – sig –"

"Stop that! Your phone is not cutting out!" Bella exclaimed angrily, because she could hear him laughing in between the crackling noises he was making. "I know you can hear me! I mean it Edward, don't –" she cut off with a gasp, moving her phone in front of her to stare at it, stunned. "Son of a bitch hung up on me," she muttered to herself and pushed her phone back into her bag, annoyed.

She pushed a hand into her hair and sighed, staring up at the cloudless summer sky with the heat of the sun on her face. She dropped her hand from her hair and looked around at the other people scattered around the grass enjoying themselves and then made eye contact with someone standing a few feet away.

"Tanya?"

"Bella! Hey," Tanya replied with a friendly smile and Bella returned it. "I thought I recognized you," she glanced around. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Yeah. Just me," Bella nodded, gesturing to the papers next to her. "I'm taking advantage of the sun and grading some essays from school."

"Oh, that's right," Tanya said in recognition. "Today's Saturday. You grade papers on weekends."

Bella scrunched up her face slightly at that. "Yup. Are you here alone too?"

"No, I brought Clair with me," Tanya gestured to a group of young girls, twirling around in their summer skirts and dresses and holding plastic fairy wands. She pointed to a patch of grass next to Bella that had some papers on it. "Is it okay if I sit?"

"Sure, yeah," Bella shuffled the papers into a neat stack, placing them back into a folder as Tanya laid out a picnic blanket next to her.

"Thanks," Tanya said gratefully, settling on the blanket and placing her hands palms down on either side of her. Bella stared at the hand closest to her. "We're not staying for very long, so I won't keep you from your work. So," she said, glancing at Bella. "How are you? Still teaching?"

"Yeah, still teaching, but enough about me. Let's talk about you," she added quickly and then pointed at Tanya's hand. "And by you I mean the _enormous_ rock that's sitting on your left hand!"

"Oh, yeah," Tanya said with a sheepish smile, lifting up her hand and the diamond glinted in the sunlight. "It's a little flashy."

"A little?" Bella repeated incredulously and took Tanya's hand to admire the ring. "I'm afraid to look directly at it in case I get blinded," she teased and Tanya laughed. "It's beautiful though, really. Congratulations."

"Thanks Bella."

"So, how did you guys meet? Have you picked a date yet? And more importantly," Bella added, giving Tanya her hand back. "Does your fiancé have any brothers you can introduce me to?"

Tanya laughed again. "No brothers."

"A sister? I'm willing to switch teams if it'll get me a rock like that."

"Sorry, only child," Tanya said in amusement and Bella muttered 'damn,' snapping her fingers in mock disappointment. "How's Alice doing these days?" Tanya asked interestedly. "Do you still see her?"

Bella nodded. "We still hang out and get together as a group with my other friends Rosalie and Emmett every now and then. She and Jasper are still together too."

"That's great. I'm glad," Tanya remarked and then smiled wistfully. "I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I miss crazy Alice sometimes. I haven't been in contact with her for awhile."

"Oh?" Bella inquired curiously because she knew Tanya and Alice were close, having gone to the same college and been sorority sisters. It had been Alice that introduced Tanya to Edward in the first place.

"I don't think Alice was very happy with the way I broke things off with Edward," Tanya explained, eyeing the same group of girls from before and one of the little girls waved in their direction and Tanya waved back. "And I understand why. I probably shouldn't have been so pushy about the whole marriage issue and a little less harsh in dumping him."

"He was pretty broken up about it for a little while," Bella agreed hesitantly. She was more of an acquaintance with Edward back then, but she recalled Alice mentioning him not going out as much and watching a lot of _Gilmore Girls_ reruns for at week or three.

Tanya grimaced. "Which is why Alice sided with Edward after we broke up. I mean yeah, Alice was my friend first but I'll always be the bitch that dumped him so harshly," she commented with a sigh. "Crazy as she is, Alice is always loyal to those who are important to her."

Bella nodded. "True."

Tanya half smiled. "Do Edward and Alice still fight like five year olds when they're together?"

"If by five year olds you mean not being able to be in same room together for less than five minutes without ripping each others throats out, then yes," Bella said and Tanya laughed lightly. "I don't think that'll ever change. I can picture them now, stuck in a nursing home, too old and frail to think of insults, so they just jab each other with their walking frames or crash their wheelchairs together."

"That's definitely something I can see them doing," Tanya paused, studying her legs closely. "So…you still see Edward then?"

"Yeah. We're pretty close," Bella answered truthfully.

"Good. That's good," Tanya remarked firmly, nodding. "That you and Edward are together. You two make a cute –"

"Uh, no. No, no," Bella corrected quickly and spluttered out a laugh. "Edward and I aren't together. Just friends, that's all. We're not _that_ kind of close."

Tanya glanced sideways at Bella, regarding her closely before looking away. "Huh. That's weird."

Bella frowned. "It's weird that I'm _not_ hooking up with your ex-boyfriend?"

"Well, it's just," Tanya said, shrugging her shoulders and began talking with her hands. "I heard you talking on the phone to Edward before…because I was eavesdropping," she admitted abashed and Bella nodded for her to go on. "And it reminded me of that time, after Alice's birthday and we all went out for dinner, do you remember? And you and Edward went back and forth seeing how many _Friends _quotes you knew?"

"Yeah, I remember. You guys got mad at us because we wouldn't stop singing _Smelly Cat_," Bella gave Tanya an odd look. "What has that got to do with Edward and I being together?"

"Nothing really. I was just thinking how you guys were, bantering back and forth and it sort of makes sense if you guys got together. You two balance each other out. It's like, separately, you're on two different levels –" Tanya brought her hands up, palms facing down, one hand higher than the other. "But when you're together," she moved her hands so that they were level with each other. "You just, work."

Bella continued to stare and Tanya dropped her hands and laughed.

"That made no sense whatsoever, did it?"

"No," Bella shook her head, also laughing. "Not even a little bit."

"Honestly though," Tanya prompted, giving Bella a questioning glance. "You _have_ to have had thoughts of being more than friends with Edward at one point. Right?"

"I dunno about thoughts," Bella said, emphasizing the 's.' "There was just one thought and we did act on it."

Tanya's eyes widened. "You slept with Edward?"

"No! We kissed," Bella clarified quickly. "Just once, last year," She grimaced, remembering that night. "And it was, without a doubt, the most awkward and uncomfortable experience I have ever, _ever_ been through in my entire life."

It was Tanya's turn to look at Bella oddly. "Kissing Edward was awkward and uncomfortable," she repeated flatly and then squinted her eyes. "Really? Are you sure?"

"I cannot stress heavily enough how awkward and uncomfortable it was for us," Bella told her firmly.

"Ahh. Well," Tanya said, blew out a breath and then shrugged. "I guess that's the end of my 'balanced out' theory."

"Yes, thank you," Bella remarked seriously. "At least _you_ accept that Edward and I would never work as a couple, unlike my other friend, Angela. She has this idea in her head that Edward and I are secretly harboring feelings for each other but we just don't know it yet," she explained and rolled her eyes.

"That sounds like a plot to a Katherine Heigl movie," Tanya said in amusement and Bella nodded in agreement. "And if it were a movie, you two would definitely be that plot line where at the climax of the movie, Edward realizes that he loves you and always has, but it's too late because you're getting married to somebody else."

"Yeah!" Bella said, playing along. "And he realizes his feelings for me _on_ my actual wedding day, when I'm standing at the alter and he bursts in at the middle of the ceremony to confess his love."

Tanya scoffed. "God. I never thought of that as romantic gesture at all and always thought it was such a douchebag move on the guys part to do that _at _the wedding."

"I know right?" Bella agreed. "It's like, 'Oh, I just figured out my feelings for you _now_, when all this money has been spent on flowers –"

"The reception hall."

"The food."

"The _dress_."

"– but lets run away together and just leave all these people that may or may not have traveled a long way to be here because I really and truly love you, okay?" Bella finished, theatrically dramatic and Tanya laughed. "If Edward were to pull something like that at my wedding, I would honestly punch him. In the mouth. Really hard."

"I wouldn't blame you," Tanya remarked wryly, still chuckling. "Although, I don't really see Edward doing that."

"You're right. He'd probably be too busy thinking about how much longer he has to sit through the ceremony before the reception starts," Tanya tilted her head questioningly, and Bella added, "because of all the cake he'll get to eat there."

Tanya chuckled as her phone chimed. "Oh, I should go," she said, checking her phone before pocketing it. "I have to get Clair home and showered and dressed in time for a dinner outing with her parents."

"Okay. Well, it was nice talking to you. Y'know, when you weren't waving that ginormous boulder of a ring in my face," Bella teased and Tanya grinned as she stood up from her blanket. Bella sighed and pouted mockingly. "Guess it's just another cruel reminder that I'm single and am going to end up forever alone. Alone in a one-room apartment over a dry cleaner with a cat. Who bites me. And pees in my closet."

"A dry cleaner?"

"I could've said a bar," Bella offered.

"That's true," Tanya conceded with a laugh, folding her blanket. "You're not going to end up alone living over a dry cleaners with an incontinent cat, Bella," she said with a warm smile. "You'll find someone."

"Someone, as in one of your fiancés extremely rich and handsome cousins?" Bella asked hopefully.

"All five of his cousins are already taken," Tanya shrugged apologetically, still smiling. "Sorry."

"Damn. Today is not my day."

**\\-\\**

_Bella's lying on top of me, naked, and we're both trying to catch our breath. Her breathing evens out and I think she's fallen asleep when she hums, sliding off me and getting out of bed. Bella goes into her bathroom and I hear her murmuring and rummaging around for a little while before she returns. She slides back into bed and stays on her side, pulling me with her so that I'm pressed against her back._

"_You have pants on," I point out, a little disappointed while moving my arms so that I'm comfortable. And by 'moving my arms' I mean putting my hands on her breasts because she's still shirtless._

"_Mmm. I need them to sleep."_

_I'm more than a little disappointed now. "We're sleeping?"_

"_Sleeping and spooning," Bella agrees sleepily._

_I sigh. "Okay. But if I'm being honest, I'd rather be awake and…forking."_

"_Nice," she murmurs. She curls one of my hands that's on her into a fist and bumps it with one of her own. I love that she did that. Plus, the fact that she hasn't pushed my hands away from her chest._

_She falls asleep straight away, but my mind is still thinking about the past couple of hours – about the feel of the softness of her skin; her gasps as my hipbone pushes against her; what she tastes like when my mouth is on hers._

_And even though I'm thinking about all the things we did, I'm realizing that lying here with her, doing absolutely nothing means absolutely everything to me._

* * *

><p>Thank you guys so much for telling me your thoughts on things in the story. You're all so good with words that I don't think I'll ever get sick of hearing what you guys have to say. Never, ever, never.<p>

**souplover9** puts up with my whinging and last minute changes and then puts up with my whining _about_ my whining on the changes that I just made.

**Next chapter: It's Bella's birthday and Edward finds himself in a slight 'Maury Povich' situation. But not really.  
><strong>

_Will xoxo_


	10. There is no such thing as shark porn

_**Tuesday,**__** 2:09am**_

"Hello?"

"Hey, happy birthday."

"Thank you! Even though, technically, it's not my birthday anymore. But that's fine because I guess it still is where you are and you have good timing because I just got home about half an hour ago and I haven't changed yet and I feel like I haven't heard from you in forever, even though it's only been a day and hey, you found your phone! Well obviously you found it because your number came up and–"

"Whoa–how the hell are you this chatty at two in the morning?" Edward interjected in disbelief.

"Oh, I had a couple of drinks for my birthday. _Was_ my birthday on my side, still my birthday on yours. Not that I'm drunk," Bella prattled quickly and Edward chuckled. "I didn't drink that much. Just some champagne and two vodka Red Bulls–"

"Ah, Red Bull. Okay, now the chattering makes sense."

Bella circled around her room for the third time since she got home. "I can't really keep still or stop talking, which I think means the ratio of Red Bull was higher than that of the vodka in my drinks."

"Maybe, yeah," Edward replied with a laugh and Bella stopped in front of her dresser.

"I got your flowers," she said and tilted her head, admiring the arrangement. "They're very pretty and make my room smell like sunshine."

"Sunshine flowers from the sunshine state," Edward said in amusement and Bella hummed, straightening things out on her dresser. "Anyway. I'm glad you're still up, even if it is caffeine related," he added. "Because I have news."

"Really?" Bella questioned excitedly, toppling over a row of lip-gloss and mascara she had just lined up. "Me too! I have news too!"

Edward laughed. "Is yours good news?"

"Yes! Amazing good. Very, very good."

"Then you should go first."

"Alright. Well, while I was at NYU one of the–wait, wait, wait," Bella said suddenly. "Are you making me go first with my good news, because your news is bad?"

"No, it's not bad."

"Then you tell me your news first."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Because I…just because."

"Just because? So it _is_ bad news," Bella remarked worriedly, frowning and finally stopped moving around her bedroom to sit on her bed. "Did something happen? Are you okay? Has it got anything to do with your phone getting lost? Oh god, it wasn't really lost, was it? Something's happened to you and you're–"

"Christ," Edward interrupted, warily. "I forgot that Red Bull sets you into panic mode as well," he sighed. "Nothings happened, I'm fine and my news isn't bad. And I really did lose my phone but how I got it back is my news. I just want you to go first because it'll take a little while to explain mine."

"So…you're okay?" Bella prompted. "Nothings happened to you?"

"I'm _fine _Bella," Edward repeated firmly. "I never said there was anything wrong. Will you just tell me your story please?"

"Alright. Okay." Appeased, Bella moved into her bathroom and glanced at herself in the mirror. "While I was at NYU over the summer, one of the assistant professors in the chemistry faculty sat in one of my lab classes on quantum classical reentrant relaxation crossover in spin ice–"

"Try saying that fast five times."

"Quantumclassicalreentran–"

"I was kidding," Edward said flatly, now on speakerphone.

Bella pulled a face at her phone, which was propped up against her toothbrush holder, as she brushed her hair in the bathroom mirror.

"Anyway. The assistant professor referred me to one of his colleagues who has a research group on inorganic and organometallic chemistry and he offered me a position on his team!"

"Um, yay?"

"I know, I know! I'm excited too," Bella responded giddily, not catching Edward's baffled tone. "I'll be using techniques in molecular solution-state chemistry and solid-state synthesis, so I'll be working with people in designing materials for the reversible sequestration of potent environmental pollutants as well as for the electro—and photo—catalytic activation of small molecules relevant to clean energy cycle!"

"I have no idea what any of that means," Edward declared.

"Oh, it means that I'm–"

"No, no. I wasn't asking. Just stating a fact," he said and Bella huffed at him, moving out of her bathroom. "But that sounds great Bella. Whatever it is you're doing. Congratulations."

Bella beamed, flopping on her back on her bed and stared at up at the ceiling. "Yeah, it is great. There's so much for me to do though. I need to talk to Angela about leaving school, I need to pack my things and find a place that's close enough to the research place, but not too close and–"

"Pack your things and find a place?" Edward repeated in confusion. "Why do you need to find a new place?"

"Because I can't do research here in New York for a hands-on project that's all the way in California, dummy."

There was a moment of silence before Edward spoke again. "You're moving here? To California?"

"Yeah. The research group is based at Stanford University," she sat up on her bed, frowning. "Did I not mention that? Sorry. I retract my dummy comment."

"When?"

"Just then, I called you a dummy because–"

"No," Edward sighed. "When are you coming here, to California?"

"Oh. Well, they don't need me in the group until the new year, so maybe January. Although, I'll probably head over during Thanksgiving break to have some pre-meetings and look at some apartments or places for me to stay."

"So not for a couple of months…" Edward mused. "Okay."

"…"

"…"

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm done."

"With what?"

"With my story. It's your turn now," Bella prodded. "I want to hear how you got your phone back. Ha, that sounds like a movie title," she added, laughing to herself. "Kind of like _How Stella got her Groove Back,_ but yours would be called, _How Edward got his Phone Back_."

"You are a weird and strange lady."

"And you're just figuring that out now?"

"Good point," Edward agreed.

"Come _on_," Bella pressed. "Tell me the story."

"Are you sure you wanna hear about this now?" he cautioned. "It's nearly two-thirty in the morning there. And the story starts with how I got my phone back and ends in a whole other direction that has nothing to do with my phone at all."

"Yes, yes, yes," Bella chanted, nodding emphatically. "I want to hear this story. My morning class is cancelled because of a school assembly about cyber bullying, which I don't have to go to, so I get to sleep in for a little while in the morning anyway."

"Okay. You know how I wrote you that email this morning about losing my phone?" Edward began.

"Yeah. You were pissed off and wrote me this essay-length email that you sent from some library computer in Camarillo this morning," Bella recalled. "You said you weren't going to get a new one because that would be a big hassle of replacing phone numbers and you knew the phone wasn't stolen, you had just misplaced it."

"I was right. It wasn't stolen, I had left it at Carlisle's place from his barbeque yesterday," Edward revealed.

"Ohhh."

"Carlisle tracked me down and said that he wouldn't be home till late," Edward continued, and Bella scrambled off her bed to retrieve her phone from the chair, then sat on her bed again. "And that he was going to leave the phone with his wife, Esme and that I could go over and pick it up after six."

"Esme. Huh, that's a weird name," Bella noted. "Well, not weird. That sounds mean. Just different I guess."

"Yeah, it is weird," Edward agreed flippantly. "But not as weird as finding out that she's your cousin."

"My cousin?" Bella said, frowning. "I don't have a cousin named Esme."

"Not _your_ cousin. Mine. Esme is my cousin."

"…"

"…"

"I'm sorry, _what_?" Bella asked, because her caffeine and alcohol addled brain needed clarification on what she had just heard. "Esme is your cousin?"

"Yes."

"As in, a relative or a family member?"

"Yes," Edward replied.

"As in, someone that's related to you?"

"Yes."

"But–what? I don't, how…?" Bella spluttered out.

"Try doing that for about an hour, and you'd have the same reaction as me," Edward remarked.

"You said you didn't have any family."

"I know."

"Explain please," Bella placed her phone back on her bed and began pacing again, as if moving around would help her make sense of what Edward had said. "Start from when you went to…your cousin's house," she stated apprehensively. "You show up and, what?

See your name on the family tree they have in their living room?"

"Not exactly," Edward muttered and there was a pause where Bella could picture him scrubbing his face with his hand in exhaustion. "When I showed up at the house, Esme wouldn't stop staring at me and then she stared asking me questions. Random questions like, what my full name was, what city I was born in, and what my parents names were."

"That's really weird," Bella commented in a hushed voice and Edward continued.

"So I asked her, politely, why she wanted to know and she told me that she _thinks_, but she's not a hundred percent sure, that we're cousins."

"That's really, _really_ weird," Bella repeated and then shook her head. "I don't understand. How would she know that you're related just from a couple of questions about your name and who your parents are?"

"Well, according to Esme, I look exactly like my dad," Edward remarked, sounding bitter. "Who she's never met, but seen pictures of. Plus, there's some sort of 'long-lost son of Edward Masen' tale within the family. I don't know."

"This sounds like something you would see on Maury Povitch."

Edward snorted. "No, it doesn't."

"Yeah, it does," Bella said with wide eyes. "What if this Esme lady isn't really your cousin, but like, your sister or something?"

"Why would she lie about being my sister and say she's my cousin instead?"

"Oh my God! What if she's your MOM?"

"How can Esme be my mom when–"

"AND CARLISLE IS YOUR DAD!"

"What? No–"

"ESME IS YOUR MOM AND CARLISLE IS YOUR DAD. OH MY GOD!"

"Where the hell are you–"

"THEY ARE TOTALLY YOUR MOM AND DAD."

"NO, THEY'RE NOT BELLA!"

"WHY?"

"BECAUSE CARLISLE AND ESME ARE ONLY FIVE YEARS OLDER THAN ME. SO THAT WOULD BE WEIRD IF THEY WERE MY PARENTS."

"ALRIGHT. THAT MAKES SENSE."

"WHY ARE YOU STILL YELLING?"

"I DON'T KNOW but I need to stop now," Bella said. Her voice cracked slightly and she heard Edward laugh on his end of the phone. "The long-lost son of Edward Masen,'" Bella echoed thoughtfully. "What's that about?"

"No idea. Esme said she didn't know much about it either, only that they've been trying to track me down for awhile."

"They? Who are they?"

"_They_ are a name and an address of a place in Madison, Wisconsin," Edward explained. "Esme gave it to me. She said that if I went there this coming weekend, she and Carlisle would be there too, to make things easier."

"Are you gonna go?" Bella prompted him seriously.

"Would you?" Edward countered straight away.

"I dunno. It just…it all seems so far-fetched, you know?" Bella said in uncertainty. "You meet some woman and she tells you she's your cousin. Then gives you an address to some place across the country that can supposedly give you answers about your past? It just seems suspicious to me," she mumbled.

"The way I see it, is that whether or not I go, it won't hurt either way," Edward told her. "It's not like I have anything to lose."

"But," Bella picked at her nails worriedly, "what if they're scammers?"

"What are they going to scam off me?" Edward scoffed. "I have nothing. And I'm pretty sure they aren't scammers," he added. "Esme was really nice about everything. She even made me stay for dinner. I just got back to my hotel room about an hour ago. They seem like good people, Bella."

"Fine. If you say so," Bella sighed, relenting and started changing out of her clothes. "When will you fly out there?"

"I'm thinking of driving, actually," Edward answered. "I might get a rental and take my time. I can use the hours it takes to drive there to think about all of this. I don't have to be in Madison until Friday, so if I start driving out there Tuesday, or rather this afternoon, I should get there by Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Spend Thursday or Friday hearing about the long-lost tale of myself, and hopefully not getting scammed," he said lightly and Bella chuckled. "And then leave Saturday for New York."

"I never knew you could drive."

Bella put Edward back on loudspeaker, throwing her phone onto the pillow next to hers, and smothered a big yawn as she got into her bed.

"Yeah. I've had my California drivers license since forever ago," Edward said. "You never learned?"

"No. By the time I was old enough to get my permit, I was already at Harvard. Not that I would ever learn how to drive in Boston," she muttered against her pillow. "Everyone that drives there suffers from really high vehicular aggression."

"That is true," Edward agreed with a chuckle and Bella felt her eyes droop.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Bella?"

"'M here," Bella murmured sleepily. "Sorry. I'm in bed now and changed into my jammies while we were talking. They're blue with white clouds on them."

"They sound lovely," Edward responded in amusement.

"…"

"…"

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you gotten me anything for my birthday yet?"

"Uh, no. I haven't," he admitted. "You're really difficult to find a present for. It's frustrating."

"I know what you can get me."

"Really? Good. What is it?"

"Cheese."

"…cheese?"

"Yeah. Wisconsin is known for their dairy farming," Bella told him and Edward laughed. "So when you go there, you can bring me back some. And none of that cheap, cheddar crap. I want the good stuff. Please."

"Well, you did say please, so I guess I have to now," Edward joked.

"Yay," Bella cheered drowsily. "Thank you."

"…"

"…"

"Alright, I can tell you're nearly gone. So I'll talk to you tomorrow," Edward said.

"Okay. You're voice is kinda nice to fall asleep to though," Bella mumbled and Edward chuckled. "I don't know why I never noticed that before. I should get you to suck some inert, monatomic gas one day to hear what you sound like."

"…"

"…"

"Oh man. Bella!" Edward called out in bewildered amusement. "You better still be awake to explain whatever inert, monatomic gas means and why I would be sucking it."

"…just helium…colorless, order less, tasteless, non-toxic chemical element that heads the noble gas group on the periodic table….it's boiling and melting points–"

"Annnd this is the part where I hang up," Edward interjected with a chuckle. "Even half asleep and a little tipsy, you're still able to geek out. Amazing."

"I'm pretty amazing," Bella said through a yawn and Edward laughed again.

"…"

"…"

"Bella? You awake?"

"…cheese…"

"O-kay. I'm hanging up now..."

"…"

"Alright. Bye Bella."

**\\-\\**

Communication between Edward and Bella over the next three days is sporadic.

Edward spends the majority of two days driving, only stopping long enough to eat and take short naps. Bella has her hands full trying to find a suitable replacement for her teaching post at school. Their phone calls are kept short and are mostly about funny license plates Edward has seen across the five states, until Friday afternoon. When Bella is on excursion at the aquarium with her AP Biology class, she gets a call from Edward, who has just arrived in Madison.

"So, where are you now?"

"In a hotel room," Edward replied. "Esme just called me. She told me to take an hour, freshen up and then meet them down the street at some diner. Then, they'll take me to meet MayMay Platt's home for lunch. And before you ask, no, I don't know who that is."

"Are you nervous?" Bella asked him while watching three of her students at the baby shark and stingray pool of the tropical fish exhibit of the aquarium. They were able to stick their hands into the water and touch them since it was the 'free time' section of the day. Everyone got time to explore the aquarium, which meant she had time to talk.

"Shitting bricks," Edward admitted and exhaled through the phone. "Plus, I don't know what to wear. T-shirt and jeans? A shirt and tie? A dress because I'm stressing over this like a woman?"

"Something in-between maybe? I don't know," Bella responded, just as apprehensive and then paused to think. "Do you still have that red and black checkered shirt?"

"Yeah."

"Is it clean?"

"It's clean, yeah," he said warily.

"Just wear that over jeans, dark ones, and you should be fine," she told him. "But don't try to be a freaking hipster and button the shirt all the way to the collar. Because, no offense, you can't really get away with it."

"Okay," Edward said and Bella can tell that he really _is_ nervous, if he has no comeback to her hipster comment.

Bella stood in front of the shark tank watching sharks circle on the other side of the glass. A sand tiger shark approached, its mouth bristling with teeth. It bumped its snout against the tank and she pressed her palm to the glass in return.

"Did you know that a common misconception about sharks is that people think you can tell how dangerous they are from their size? That's all wrong. The big ones don't always feed on meat."

"Really? You're distracting me with shark facts?"

"I thought you like sharks."

"Sharks are cool in a creepy kind of way," Edward mused in agreement. "How do you tell if a shark is dangerous then?"

"Their teeth."

"So what, you ask them to smile?"

"If you're stupid enough to get that close to one and see them smile, then you deserve everything you get."

"It's odd how violent you are for a scientist."

"Thanks," Bella rolled her eyes and she noticed that two of the boys at the shark pool had started flicking water at each other. "I gotta go," she added quickly as the two boys started slapping the other with their wet hands and members of the public were giving them furtive glances. "Call me when it's all over, okay? I want to know what happens. Don't be nervous, everything will be fine."

"Yeah. Alright," Edward muttered distractedly.

"I mean it Edward," Bella said firmly. "Call me. Whatever happens, call me. I don't care what time it is. I'll answer."

"Okay, I'll call."

Edward does call, but Bella doesn't answer. Not on purpose though– he calls late that night and twice Saturday, the next morning. The reason being, that she forgot to turn her phone off silent and slept through all three calls. It doesn't register in her brain that she's missed his calls until she checks her phone as soon as she wakes up at eleven o'clock the next morning.

"Shit, shit!" she said loudly, now feeling wide-awake as she stared at the screen of her phone. She pushed away the bed coverings that were on her, hastily getting out of bed and noticed that she had a text message from Edward. While walking and reading it, she bumped into the closed door of her bathroom.

_You tell me to call you, whatever happens, at any time and when I do, you don't even answer_

_Who's the dummy now? :-P_

_Its fine, I'm fine, everything's fine. Don't hurt yourself reading this text in a hurry._

_I know you slept through my calls and are reading this just having woken up, so go brush your teeth and get some coffee._

_Then check your e-mail_

Bella did as she was told, furiously brushing her teeth before changing out of her sleep clothes and into comfortable yoga pants and plain shirt. She pushed her feet into some shoes and grabbed her wallet before hurriedly making her way out of her apartment and across the street to a sidewalk vendor. She bought two large coffees and then returned back to her apartment, pouring both coffees into her over sized, jumbo mug and grabbed her iPad and earphones to her iPod and settled on her couch.

By the time she opened Edward's email, Bella was a quarter of her way through her coffee. The body of his email was left blank, and had two attachments: the first was an image file with the title: _OPEN_ME_FIRST, _and the second was a sound file titled: _THEN_LISTEN_TO_THE_SWEET_DULCET_TONES_ OF_MY_VOICE._

Rolling her eyes at the file name Edward had given his recording; Bella stuck her earphones in and skipped his instructions.

"I knew it," Edward began, sounding smug. "I _knew_ you weren't going to open that image first and go straight to my recording. I can even picture you sitting there, with your mug, the size of a baby elephant, full of that black sludge you call coffee from the vendor across the street –"

"It's not black sludge!" Bella defended out loud, taking a sip. "It _is_ coffee and it's delicious, thank you very much."

She then jumped slightly, sloshing some coffee onto her front when she heard Edward's voice in her ear say, "it's not coffee and it's not delicious."

"– eager to hear all about what happened yesterday at my 'family meeting,'" he continued and Bella scowled, wiping off the spilt coffee on her shirt with the covering of a pillow next to her and made a note to wash her pillow covers. "But I'm not going to tell you. Not right now and not over a recording, I mean," he added and Bella slumped back against her couch in disappointment. "All I'm going to say is that it actually went pretty well, except for one part that was very weird…but _not _in a Maury Povitch kind of way," he added cryptically and Bella frowned, a part of her happy that Edward's night ended up fine and the other part dying to hear about what happened. "But I'll tell you everything when I see you tomorrow at Central Park."

Bella mulled over what Edward could mean by 'Central Park' and 'tomorrow' as he continued. "First though, I need to tell you what my plans are. Right now, I'm at some rest stop, just outside the Illinois border, using their Wi-Fi. I've been on the road for a couple of hours, but hopefully I'll be part-way through Illinois when you open this email. I've picked up something that's gonna make the drive a little longer than planned, but not too much. I'll make a proper stop when I get to Akron, Ohio which won't be until one or two am. I'll sleep for a few hours and then drive straight through to New York and I should be in the city in the morning. I gotta do some things once I get back, like return the rental, but I want to meet up with you after twelve sometime at that spot in Central Park where you grade your school work. Except, don't bring any schoolwork," Edward told her. "Because I'm taking you to a modern art gallery. That's what the image file is– a flyer about the display."

"What? Why?" Bella whined childishly. "I don't want to go to a stupid art gallery."

"And before you say no, or complain," Edward remarked knowingly, "it's not the type of gallery with the kind of art we usually hate on, where some skinny bastard declares some other skinny bastard a genius because he paints 'really fierce red squares.' And it's just one specific art piece I want you to see, not the whole gallery," he added.

"Yeah, okay. I think that's all I had to tell you," he concluded and Bella wondered why Edward didn't elaborate on what he wanted to show her. "Oh and I finally found you a good birthday present, by the way. That's the reason why it's gonna take me a little longer than usual to get back to the city. I'm not giving away any hints because I can't think of any without giving the answer away. And I got your cheese too, but that's not what your present is and it's a lot better than the cheese. Yes, I got you something that's more awesome than cheese and yes, my mind is blown as well," he said and Bella rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Anyway, I should get back on the road. I'll call you when I get into the city tomorrow morning. Speak soon, Bella. Bye."

**\\-\\**

_Bella moves around a lot when she sleeps. Like a lot, a lot. _

_We went from me spooning her, to her spooning me, to her being on her stomach with her face down in the pillow, to how we are now. I'm on my back and she's snuggled into my side, her hand against my chest with my arms around her. I can't see the time but I'm sure she hasn't been asleep for more than an hour._

_And yeah, I am somewhat of an insomniac and having her this close, and not to mention naked against me is great, but all this moving around is driving me crazy. _

_Ah, crap. I was just about to drift off but now she's moving. _Again._ Bella shifts closer to me, her nose against my jaw and stretches her arm out over my chest and then bends it at the elbow, the palm of her hand smacking lightly on top of my head. _

_I feel her fingers ruffle through my hair and she mumbles, "Hugsy."_

_Thank God she sleeps like the dead too because I can't help but laugh. _

_That's the thing about girls. When you meet one that's amazing and beautiful and smart, you fall in love with them. Or even if you meet one that's all those things but also does not stop moving when she's asleep and has odd dreams, plus more, you fall in love with them. _

_Girls. Jesus Christ, they can drive you crazy. They really can._

* * *

><p>There aren't enough thank yous in the world for me to say how grateful I am for everyone reading this. And I really like hearing what you have to say. So tell me things, anything - what you think about cheese. Or sharks. Or the greatest TV show on Earth - <em>Maury<em>.

**souplover9** is sunshine flowers for going over this. abouteleventybilliontimes

**Next chapter: Edward returns to New York and gives Bella her present that's better than cheese.**

_Will _xoxo**  
><strong>


	11. W,E,N,U,S stands for, ummmmm

_**Sunday**,__** 1:32pm**_

"Hello?"

"You're late."

"I know, I know. Could you not rub it in–"

"You're _never_ late," Edward cut-in cheerfully. Bella scowled, pushing through the people on the sidewalk as politely as possible. "You're either on time or early, but never late. Why are you late, by the way?" he asked. "I just spoke to you, like, two hours ago and you said weren't doing anything and that you'd get here before me."

"I know," Bella repeated through gritted teeth, now moving quickly through a gap in the crowd, as she entered Central Park. "I wasn't doing anything, but when I left my apartment, the roads were blocked off because they're shooting some movie, so I had to go the long way up Columbus–"

"Are you running?"

"No, I'm not running," she said, trying not to breathe heavily into the phone. "Just unbelievably unfit."

"It sounds like you are," he remarked suspiciously.

"I'm just rushing, that's all."

"Please don't run," Edward told her seriously. "The last time you were running, I saved you from getting plowed over by a bus and we went to second base before we even got to see each others faces…actually, maybe you should run here," he added musingly. "We could reenact that day, except this time your shirt would be a little bit tighter and more see through, so your bra would be showing and –"

"Good to know those eight months in California made you even _more_ of a perv," Bella interjected. "Which I didn't think was possible."

"It's because of all the porn they make there. Especially in LA, it's hard not to notice. Pretty sure I walked past a Ron Jeremy taping once…"

"Ewww, that's guy's so disgusting," she hurried up the slope of the hill near where she was meeting Edward and made a face, both in disgust and tiredness from running. "And ewww at myself for knowing who Ron Jeremy is."

Edward chuckled into the phone. "I can see you, by the way. And you _are_ running," he noted indignantly.

Bella spotted him too, and slowed down to a walk. "It's been eight months, I'm just really excited to see you," she said lightly with a grin.

"Liar," Edward retorted teasingly and Bella could see that he was grinning too, about a hundred feet away from her. "You're excited for your cheese, not to see me."

"True. Once I get my hands on that cheese, I'm outta here."

"I see how it is: after two years of friendship, you're just using me for cheese."

"Again, true. Took you long enough to figure it out."

"Well, before you run off with your precious cheese and drop me as a friend," Edward said to her, moving forward. "Can I at least get a hug?"

Bella laughed over the phone, still walking toward him. "Yeah, I guess you can get a hug."

"Good," Edward answered and he reached Bella first with his long legs carrying across the distance between them in a few steps. He caught Bella up in a ferocious hug, the kind that lifted Bella to her toes and had all the air crushed out of her. He was laughing in her ear and Bella laughed breathlessly too. There was a light feeling in her chest as if her heart had shot toward the sky as she hugged him back just as tight.

They stood like that for a long moment, pressed together, before Bella pulled back slightly with her hands on his shoulders so that they were face to face and blurted out the first thing she noticed.

"You got sideburns."

"Hello Edward," he prompted. "How are you? Oh, can't complain."

"They're uneven," She noted with a grin and Edward sighed, but was still smiling and he dropped his arms as she took a step back. "And you got a _tan_," she added, holding his arm up by his wrist and staring at the contrast between his sun-kissed skin to her own milky-white skin. "No fair. I want a tan," she frowned, letting go of his arm and pocketed her phone.

"It's actually just bad sunburn that's faded," Edward told her with a slight grimace. "I looked like a inked up, pierced human version of Elmo for awhile."

"I missed seeing you as an inked up, pierced human version of Elmo?" Bella said, her eyes wide in mock outrage and despair. "Dammit, why didn't we ever video chat?"

"Because I looked like an inked up, pierced human version of Elmo," he deadpanned and Bella cracked up.

"Well, you look good," she declared truthfully, partly awed by his appearance.

The sensory overload of standing in front of Edward after being eight months apart took some time to get used to. Bella could barely look at him directly. Edward's hair was shorter and not quite as shaggy as it had been the last she saw him. The haircut made it look darker and brown, not quite so reddish and paired with his tan, it made his green eyes stand out. He also seemed more built from all the construction work he had done, his inked forearms looking strong under the rolled up sleeves of his grey button-down.

"Thanks," Edward replied, glancing down at himself and then back up at Bella. She wore a knee length, a deep purple colored dress with chunky bracelets on her wrists and tie up boots. "You look good too. You always look good." **  
><strong>

Bella's chest made that fluttery feeling again and she ignored it, swatting his arm instead. "So?"

"So what?" Edward repeated, looking confused.

"_So_, what happened in Wisconsin?" Bella prompted impatiently and Edward 'ohd' in understanding. "How did it go? What did you find out? Did they tell yo–" she cut off abruptly, leaning back. "Your hand is on my face," she stated, reaching up to his hand that was pressed firmly over Bella's eyes and tried to pry it off. "Why is your hand on my face?"

"Because I have something to show you," Edward replied, not budging on covering her eyes and then took Bella's elbow, leading her forward.

"What kind of 'something?'" Bella questioned warily, reluctantly letting him steer her.

"It's your present."

"My birthday present? What is it?"

"It's a surprise. Obviously," Edward added. "Why do you think I have your eyes covered?"

Bella tsked at him. "Do you have to show it to me _now?_ Can't it wait? I want to hear about Wisconsin."

"No, I have to give it to you now before we talk. Mind your feet," he warned and Bella stepped off the grass and under her feet she could feel something thick, like a blanket. They stopped and Edward let go of her elbow, but kept his hand over her eyes and said, "okay. I'm going to move my hand, so just stay here and keep your eyes closed."

"You want me to stand here, with my eyes shut, in the middle of Central Park while you go away?"

"Just for a second and I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here in front of you," Edward told her. "Promise."

"Alright, fine," Bella relented with a sigh.

"Okay. Keep them closed," Edward reiterated, releasing his hand and Bella complied, feeling him move away.

She stood there, with eyes shut and hands by her sides, as she tried to listen to the surroundings around her for clues as to what her present might be. She didn't hear much though – just some shuffling sounds like a box or a crate being opened and…heavy breathing?

"Shhh," she heard Edward say.

"Why are you shushing me?" Bella questioned, eyes still shut. "I didn't say anything."

"I didn't mean you."

"Then who're you talking to?"

"Open your eyes and see."

Bella opened her eyes and blinked a few times to see Edward standing in front of her.

"Oh my God," she said, staring at the black and white ball of fur in Edward's arms. "Oh my God, OHMYGODOHMYGOD!" she scooped up the puppy from Edward and then shoved his shoulder in excitement. "You got me a PUPPY?"

"Yes, I did. And ow," he muttered with a frown, rubbing his shoulder as Bella cradled the puppy to her chest, giddy.

"Oh, he's so cute and cuddly and furry and soft!" she squealed loudly. "It's even got a red bow around its neck!"

"Whoa, okay," Edward laughed, looking slightly alarmed. "What was that noise you just made?"

"Look at its face! It's like a mash potato of cuteness; I could just gobble it up!"

"Yeah, that's not a weird thing to say to a dog at all…"

"It's so _cuuute_!" she crooned, too busy petting the puppy to hear Edward.

"So you like it?" Edward asked teasingly.

"Yes," Bella finally glanced away from the puppy, grinning at Edward. "Best present I've ever gotten," she declared. "Ever, ever. Thank you."

"Your welcome."

Bella brought her attention back to her puppy, and nuzzled the top of its head. "Is it a girl or a boy?"

"A boy. Oh, here," he said and then gestured for the puppy. "I should show you what he does."

"What does he do?" Bella asked curiously, handing the puppy over and Edward placed him down on the grass.

"You'll see. Sit…stay," he said to the puppy and Edward backed up a few steps, moving away from him. The puppy cocked his head to the side, watching Edward retreat, but remained where it was.

"Ooo," Bella remarked, impressed, watching Edward return to the puppy to give him a treat from a Ziploc bag out of his pocket.

"Wait. There's more," Edward told her. Turning back to the puppy, he cleared his throat and said to him, "what do sharks look like?" He pulled its mouth back, showing Edward his teeth and Bella laughed, applauding them. "Good boy," Edward gave him another treat, letting him finish it before continuing. He then began to sprout off commands to the puppy, rewarding him after each one.

"Did you wash your hands?" the puppy sat up into the beg position and showed the pads of his paws.

"Do you like tuna?" the puppy whimpered in his throat and ducked his head, covering his nose with a paw.

"Do you like Miley Cyrus?" the puppy whipped his head back and howled at the sky.

"Speak," the puppy started barking. "Speak loudly," the puppy barked louder. "Speak softly," the puppy let out timid sounding barks.

"Shake hands," the puppy sat on his haunches and held out his paw and Edward shook it. "Shake your head," the puppy shook its head. "Shake yourself," the puppy stood up and shook its whole body.

"Wag tail," the puppy stood still, his tail the only part of him moving from side to side. "Wriggle ears," the puppy sat down, its ears twitching right and left.

"Moonwalk," the puppy shifted, as if it were bowing and began scooting backwards.

"Holy crap," Bella remarked in awe, watching the dog moonwalk across the grass. "What _doesn't_ this dog know how to do?"

"He knows everything." Edward answered, picking up the puppy and giving him back to Bella. "He knows the basics too like, fetch and heel and roll over. He can even kiss you."

"_What_?"

Edward grinned and he sat down, on what Bella just noticed now as a picnic blanket and she followed suit. "Not with tongue or anything. He just touches his nose against you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded to the puppy. "Say 'kiss' and he'll do it."

"Um, okay," Bella said hesitantly and set the puppy on her lap. "Kiss," the dog stood on her arm and he was so tiny, his nose just touched her chin. "That is so CUTE!" She laughed as the puppy tried again, jumping this time so it reached her cheek. "Does he have a name?"

"No, I thought I'd leave it to you. But don't name him anything weird though," Edward added flatly. "I don't want our dog having some random name like…Tookie or something."

Bella stared at Edward, regarding him in amusement. "_Our_ dog?" she repeated with quirked eyebrows.

Edward blinked at her and then shook his head. "I mean, _your_ dog. Not our. I don't know why I said that."

"It can be our dog," Bella glanced back down at the puppy, stroking it. "I can share."

"Okay," Edward said, looking pleased. "You can still give him a name. But I get veto rights if I don't like it."

"Deal," Bella replied and then picked the puppy up to face level, staring at him. "Hmm. What about…Spot?"

Edward scoffed. "Spot the dog? Really? No. Veto."

"Fine," Bella scowled. "Max?"

"Overused. Veto."

"Maybe I can name him after you," Bella teased. "I could name him Ed."

"Veto times a thousand," Edward emphasized heavily. "Plus, he's a dog that can moonwalk, not a horse that can talk."

"Oh, oh, oh! Let's name him Carlisle!"

"Oh, oh, oh! Let's _not _call him that!"

Bella laughed and regarded the puppy again. "Hm, well…he's very fluffy and cuddly. Cuddles?"

Edward gave her a droll look. "Do you hate our dog? Why do you hate our dog? If you hate him so much, just tell me."

"Oh, I know!" Bella held up the puppy triumphantly. "Let's name him Hugsy!"

"Joey from _Friends'_ stuffed toy penguin?"

"Yeah!"

"No. Veto."

"Boo your veto!" Bella retorted and Edward shook his head. "I like Hugsy and I'm sticking with it. Let's see if he likes it," Bella set him down a few paces away from her and Edward watched warily. "Hugsy! Come here boy," she called, patting her knee and the puppy ran to her. "Aha! See, he _does_ like it."

"You can't call him Hugsy," Edward said, disgruntled. "All the other dogs will make fun of him and steal his lunch money. Can you live with the fact that he will forever be mocked and ridiculed by other dogs?"

"He'll be fine," Bella said, stroking him and Hugsy's tail thumped against the blanket. "How does he know all those tricks anyway?" she asked curiously. "He's so little, he can't be more than three months."

"Four months actually, and he's an accelerated learning dog," Edward explained. "When he first started showing signs of being smart at an early age, he got special training in higher dog behavior. He kinda reminded me of you," he added.

Bella laughed. "You got me a genius dog?"

"Well, yeah," Edward lifted one shoulder, smiling. "You're Doctor Swan. I wasn't about to walk into a pet store and get you any old puppy."

"You didn't get him from a pet store?"

"I got him straight from the breeder's house."

"Where? Here in New York?"

"No, in Wisconsin."

"Wisconsin?" Bella gaped at Edward. "You _drove_ him here?"

"Yeah. That's why it took me a little longer to get back – I had to keep making enough stops to let him out of this and run around," he answered and patted the top of a small pet carrier that Bella just noticed sitting next to him on the grass. "He's a good traveling buddy though. We had a fun road trip, right Hug?" he reached over, ruffling the top of Hugsy's head, who licked his wrist in return.

"Hugsy. His name's Hugsy."

"I'm not calling him that," Edward told her sternly.

"Fine. I guess you can call him Hug for short," Bella muttered and then changed the subject. "So, you got him in Wisconsin," she declared again. "That's a good segue. Am I ever going to hear what happened over there?"

"I'll tell you over lunch," Edward said. "You hungry?"

"Sure," she replied, reaching for her purse. "Where do you want to go?"

"Nowhere," Edward turned and picked up a mini sized cooler from behind the pet carrier. Bella put down her purse and stared as Edward spread out the contents of the cooler onto the blanket. "That's Emmentaler," he pointed to the wedge of cheese he'd brought and pointed to the rest of the food items. "Which is just a fancy way of saying Swiss cheese. Some pear and cranberry tart, and French bread that's a day old."

"Day old bread gets a bad rep," Bella said, tearing off a hunk. "The fresh baked stuff is too soft."

Edward then took out a small bowl for some dog food for Hugsy to eat as well, which excited Bella. She took out her cell phone, taking photos of him eating out of his pet food bowl, chattering and cooing about how cute it was.

For the next few minutes, they just sat and ate. "This cheese is good," Bella mumbled with her mouth half full of bread and cheese. "Is it from Wisconsin?"

Edward nodded. "It is."

"And this tart," she pointed to the tin foil dish that was already half gone. "It tastes homemade."

"It is."

"This is me pushing you into telling me about Wisconsin," Bella remarked giving him a flat look. "Whose home did you get the tart from?"

"I stole it from a windowsill," Edward deadpanned and then shrugged. "Maymay Platt gave it to me," Bella stared at Edward until he added, "I should probably explain who Maymay Platt is, huh?"

"Yes please," Bella replied sarcastically.

"Maymay Platt is my grandmother's sister," Edward declared. "On my dad's side. Her son, who is Esme's dad and my dad are cousins, which makes Esme my second cousin."

"So you two _are_ cousins," Bella remarked and Edward nodded. "And this Maymay Platt – she's the one you went to see on Friday, right?"

"Yeah. So, on Friday, after I finished talking to you about what to wear – and I did wear the red and black shirt like you told me, by the way," he added and Bella half smiled. "I met up with Esme and Carlisle and they drove me about two hours out of Madison to Maymay Platt's estate – yeah, _estate_," Edward repeated with emphasis, seeing Bella's eyebrows rise. "They have this enormous house, one of those plantation style homes, sitting on a huge block of land – real nice. Anyway," he continued. "We get to the estate and I'm pretty nervous about…well, whatever I'm about to find out or not find out and then I meet Maymay Platt."

Edward paused, laughing once before going on. "She answers the door and says hello, pulling me into a great big hug. She's short, so I had to bend down a little and I think she must've felt the piercings in my neck because the first thing she says to me is 'oh, you have something caught on your neck' and then pulls at one of them."

"Ouch," Bella winced, but Edward still looked amused. "Are you okay? Did she pull one out?"

"I'm fine. They're all there," Edward assured her. They were sitting side by side, so he twisted his head to show Bella his neck. "She just tugged at one, no permanent damage. So after she's finished trying to maim me," he said, facing forward again. "Maymay Platt served lunch for us, where almost every dish was cheese based. Not that it worried me – I ate everything. The bread and peach and cranberry tart was all that was leftover."

"Yeah, I know. I've seen you," Bella commented. "If someone puts anything edible in front of you, you'll eat it."

"Within reason," he added and then bobbed his head. "But yeah, I'll eat anything. Anyway, after we finished eating the cheesy lunch," he went on. "Maymay Platt took me to this massive room full of books and photographs, which I guess was the library of the house, and we sat there, for almost three hours while she talked and pulled out photos to show me."

"What did she tell you?" Bella prodded, trying to sound gentle and not too eager about wanting to hear his story.

"Everything," Edward remarked with a wry smile. He glanced down at Hugsy, and patted the blanket. Hugsy, sitting in Bella's lap, jumped down and curled up on the blanket in front of Edward. "Mainly about my parents. I won't tell you the full version – that'll take me three hours to get through. I'll shorten it," he said, and kept his gaze on Husgy, patting him as he talked.

"My dad, Edward and my mom, Elizabeth met in high school – dad was from a well to do family, mom from a very unbalanced one – they dated, dad falling crazy in love with her – dad's family weren't too happy about it, his grades were dropping, he was out all night, hanging out with the wrong crowd, etc – mom fell pregnant with me at seventeen, in their senior year – dad took some money and they ran away from home – got as far as Chicago and stayed there – dad wasted away all the money he stole on booze and poker games – mom had me, found out about there being no money, so she left him and me at the hospital – dad, caring only about money and the love of his life, walked away from me and went back home to ask for more money – his parents disowned him and threw him out of the house when they found out he stole money and abandoned me – no one's heard from my mom since, but they _do_ hear from my dad when he randomly shows up every few years, wasted and broke, looking for money so he can find my mom."

Edward paused for a moment, still patting Hugsy and Bella was glad he did, because she felt like she needed a minute to absorb everything he had just said.

"Wow – that's – I mean, it's just…" Bella said, floundering on an appropriate response. "I don't know what to say," she admitted meekly.

"I didn't either, when Maymay Platt told me," Edward remarked, shrugging one shoulder. "I think I just sat there for about ten minutes without moving. Feel free to do that if you want."

"I think I'm okay," she replied and asked hesitantly, "Did she explain about that guy? The uncle that came to see you when you were fourteen so you could join his family, but you panicked and ran away?"

Edward looked surprised. "You remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember," she said. She thought back to that night Edward told her about his past and how, after he went home, she stayed up until two a.m. reading about crystal meth addiction on the Internet. She didn't just stay up that night either – for the rest of that week she read about meth addiction on the internet, looked it up at her school library and watched documentaries on it.

"Well, when my dad left me at the hospital to go back home and ask for more money," Edward said, answering Bella's question. "My grandparents disowned him when they found out about me and started to track me down so they could take me out of the foster care system. They found me when I was about eight years old, but because my grandparents were quite old, the courts deemed them 'unfit' to take care of me. They died when I was ten, so Maymay Platt and her son, Esme's dad, took over fighting for me in the courts.

"And this is where it gets a little weird," Edward remarked with a slight grimace. "Because it was taking so long to get me out of the system, Maymay Platt would pay my social workers under the table so that I would go to the more…satisfactory foster homes – homes that were more upscale and had less kids per foster carer's than others, stuff like that."

Bella gaped at Edward. "They _bribed_ social workers so that you could go to better foster homes?" she questioned in disbelief and Edward nodded solemnly. "Oh, my God…"

"I got so mad when they told me," Edward stated, shaking his head. "All I could think about was how unfair it was for them to do that just for me when there were so many other kids worse off than I was in the system. Even when I ran away from my foster family and then went to California, they tried to find me. But once I left Illinois, it got harder for them to track me down."

"That's what Esme meant by the 'long lost Edward Masen' story," Bella interrupted in realization and Edward nodded.

"Maymay Platt mentioned she wasn't proud of the bribery though," he added. "And said that she regularly donates money to foster care charities and fundraisers. Which doesn't exactly make up for what they did, but…I don't know."

Bella thought about it and her disbelief softened. "I guess…families can be like that though – they're always there for you and love you unconditionally, but sometimes the way they show it can get messy and complicated."

"Family. Huh," Edward hummed under his breath.

"How are you feeling about all this?" Bella asked him curiously. Edward had returned his gaze to Hugsy toying with the ribbon around his neck, who was now curled up and asleep at his side. "You seem to be doing okay."

"Do I? Because I have no idea how I'm feeling," Edward answered with a small laugh. "I went nearly thirty years without calling anyone mom or dad and not having any family at all, to learning that I have a cousin and a substitute grandmother."

"Which is pretty great," Bella chimed in.

Edward nodded in agreement. "It _is_ great and bribery aside, they're genuinely nice people. It's just…" he trailed off, making a face and rubbed a hand through his hair until it stuck up.

"What?"

Edward sighed. "While I was there, they gave me a tour of Maymay Platt's, showing me around the property and during lunch, she and Esme told stories. Stories about family vacations and Thanksgivings and birthdays over the years. And all I could think about was 'this is _the worst_,'" he emphasized heavily. "Because I could've had all that. I could've lived in this big house and gone on those vacations and spent Thanksgiving with a _family_ and celebrated birthdays with people that I loved. I could've finished high school and maybe even gone to college and gotten a degree in something."

Edward shook his head sharply, his words coming together quickly in anger and frustration as he went on. "No, instead I became the foster kid nobody wanted, and grew up living on the streets, a pill hound and a crack and meth head, cooking up both in kitchens of trailers. And then shooting myself up with it or popping pills or getting drunk or high or sometimes doing all of them at the one time because my life was one big _hole_ and I was so empty that I tried to fill myself up with as many things as I could – only to end up in some room of a ratty motel, with some naked girl passed out in the bed whose name I don't even remember or care about because I'm too busy either taking her money and her stash out of her pockets or splayed out on the floor of the bathroom, twitching and scratching myself to death because of the imaginary bugs under my skin.

"And it makes sense now why Esme couldn't stop staring at me when we first met," Edward remarked, his tone bitter and hard. "I _do_ look like my dad. Maymay Platt showed me a photo of him from when he was about sixteen and it's like I'm a carbon copy of him. I have the same hair color, face shape, the way he was standing in the photo – everything. There was a note scribbled on the back of the photo and even his _handwriting_ is similar to mine. Like father like son in every fucking way," he muttered.

Edward scrubbed a hand over his face and dropped it with a sigh. Bella regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, the corner of her lip sucked in, before she spoke.

"Did you know that there's a North Pacific sea star that has to rip themselves in two to reproduce? There aren't enough stars around for them to mate with," Bella remarked and then shrugged. "Or maybe the stars they had to chose from were idiots."

Edward sighed, and tugged at the grass next to him. "Where are you going with this random piece of scientific info, Doctor Swan?"

"When the stars divide, they end up with kids who are the exact copies of them," Bella told him and shook her head. "They don't get a choice – they'll be the same as their parent stars. You're not the same as your parents Edward," she said gently and Edward remained quiet. "You made a choice and you got help. You got clean and not many people are strong enough to do that."

"Yeah," Edward murmured. Staring out in front of him, Edward leaned back a little and pressed his palms against the blanket to hold himself up. Sitting there, his muscles in his arms flexed, his eyes all serious, Bella noticed that he looked good. Really good.

Edward tilted his head forward and caught Bella looking. "You're staring," he pointed out.

"It's hard not to," she said unthinkingly. Edward furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and Bella snapped out of it, shaking her head once. "Because of your sideburns," she added quickly. "They're so uneven; it's hard not to notice."

Edward's expression cleared and Bella noticed his posture sitting on the blanket visibly slump slightly. He rolled his eyes. "They're not _that_ uneven."

"No, they really are. They don't have mirrors in California or what?"

The crumpled up ball of tin foil from the tart they had just ate hit Bella's upper arm and rebounded onto the blanket in front of Hugsy. Still fast asleep, he rolled the ball in between his front paws and laid his head down on top of it, making Edward and Bella laugh.

"So what's Maymay Platt like?" Bella asked, taking out her cell phone again and Edward looked on in exasperation as she took another photo of Hugsy. "Does she live in that big house all by herself?"

"Yeah, she does. She needs it though – all that space comes in handy when she trains the dogs," he answered, nodding at the still sleeping puppy.

Bella's eyes went wide. "_She's _the one you got Hugsy from?"

"Yeah. She's an artist, actually," Edward said. "Mainly photography. But she's also breeds and trains 'specialized dogs.' I told her about you, how it was your birthday and that I still hadn't gotten you anything. Esme suggested that I give you one of the dogs as a gift and Maymay Platt agreed that it was a good idea, so she gave me one."

"You told them about me?" Bella questioned with a smile. But it faded when a thought occurred to her. "Oh crap," she said flatly with a grimace. "You told them the blue hamster story, didn't you?"

Edward grinned. "Yup. They all think you're pretty awesome, regardless. Particularly your name crush, Carlisle," he added teasingly.

"I hate you. So, _so_ much."

He laughed and then turned, rummaging through the cooler again. "Here, accept this as a peace offering," he took out a Tupperware container and passed it to her. "Maymay Platt baked you a batch of birthday cupcakes."

"Really? That's so sweet," Bella said, smiling and then stared at the container's contents through the lid. "There are two cupcakes in here. Two cupcakes is a batch?"

"Well, there were more," Edward stated with a shrug. "But I got kinda hungry on the way here."

Bella glared at him. "When people take _your_ food, you make a big deal out of it, yet you take other people's food yourself? Again, so much hate at you."

"Madison to New york is a really long drive," Edward said innocently, wide eyed and Bella scoffed. "And the cupcakes are good; it was hard to stop at one. I think it's the marzipan frosting. Oh man, so good," Edward stared longingly at the container. "There are two cupcakes in there. One for you, and the other for a friend, maybe? A friend that's been doing nothing but drive for the past twenty-two hours and is fairly handsome in the looks department and –"

"I'm sorry, what?" Bella interjected, peeling off the wrapper of one, taking a bite of the cake part of the cupcake. "You'll have to speak up. I can't hear you over all this yummy-ness."

"You're a mean friend," Edward declared as Bella happily chewed away. "Who doesn't even know how to eat a cupcake," he added in exasperation, watching her take another bite. "What the hell are you doing? Who eats a cupcake upside down?"

"I'm leaving the frosting till last," she countered. "Frosting and icing are always the best parts."

"People who eat cupcakes like that should be banned from ever eating them."

Bella pulled a face and was about to tell him, or rather show him, what she thought of his ban when Edward's cell phone started ringing.

"Damn," he said, shifting around on the blanket to fish out his phone from his jean pocket, his movements waking Hugsy up from his nap. "Is it three o'clock already?" he pushed up the sleeve of his arm to check his watch, holding the still ringing cell phone in his hand.

"I guess so, yeah," Bella replied, polishing off her cupcake. She scooped up Hugsy, petting him and watched Edward stand up from the blanket, his phone now silenced. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I told Riley to call me at three. I'll call him back in a minute. Come on," he held his hand out toward her. "We gotta go."

"Go?" she took his hand, letting him help her up. "Where are we going?"

"To the second part of your present, the art gallery."

* * *

><p>This was originally one big chapter that I've had to split in half because of the length, hence the slightly abrupt ending.<p>

You guys are so smart for guessing that Edward was giving her an animal :D I hope you liked Hugsy. I went a little overboard with him when I was Google-ing information about puppies. Tell me if you did/didn't like him and what your thoughts are on anything :)

**souplover9** makes everything neat and tidy and I wish I could give a Hugsy to her. Both the puppy _and_ the stuffed toy penguin.

**Next chapter: Edward and Bella get to****gether (...spoiler alert?)**

_Will xoxo_


	12. Paper! Snow! A ghost! Are all white

_**Sunday,**__** 3:06pm**_

"Hello?"

"No, that was my fault. I lost track of time…"

Bella listened closely to Edward's one-sided phone call while they walked side by side out of Central Park. As soon as they packed away everything from their spot in the park, Edward called Riley back. She held Hugsy in one arm, her other hand carrying the picnic blanket. Edward carried the cooler and Hugsy's pet carrier, plus the bag with Hugsy's things inside.

"Sure, see you in five," Edward said into the phone. "Thanks again, Riley."

"I didn't know you talked to Riley," Bella mentioned when he ended his call.

"I don't. Not really, anyway," Edward remarked with a shrug as they stopped at a set of traffic lights, waiting to cross the street. "But I needed a favor this morning – I had to take the rental to JFK to return it, but then realized I had all my stuff, which was too much to fit into a cab and also Hug in his pet carrier. So I called up Riley asking if he could pick me up, which he did. He even took me to my storage unit so I could drop off some of my stuff. He did this on a Sunday, too."

"Yeah, Riley's nice like that." Bella said in agreement and they walked two blocks before spotting Riley leaning against a Porsche SUV parked against the curb.

"Afternoon Isabella, Edward," Riley greeted once they reached him.

"Hi Riley," Bella responded. Edward made his way to the back of the car and Riley and Bella followed. "How are you?" she asked.

"Fine, thank you," Riley replied and then glanced at Husgy in Bella's arms. "That's a cute dog you've got there, Isabella."

"Isn't he?" she cooed, nuzzling the top of Hugsy's head and Edward started placing things in the trunk of the SUV. "This is Hugsy – he's my birthday present from Edward."

"Ah, Hugsy. Did you name him, Isabella?" Riley asked politely.

"Of course she did," Edward answered for her with a scoff and then gestured for the blanket she was holding. "That name has 'Bella Swan' all over it," Bella scowled, passing him the blanket and Edward placed it inside. "Okay," he closed the hood of the trunk and then nodded at the car for her to get in. "So here's the plan: before we go to the art gallery, we'll make a stop at your place because they're only two blocks away from each other, drop off Hug and all of his stuff and then go to the gallery from there."

"Oh...um," Bella remarked in hesitation, not moving from the sidewalk. "Do we have to?"

"What do you mean, do we have to?"

"Well, how far is the gallery from where we are now?" she asked and Edward told her. "That's only ten blocks from here. Can't we just walk there?"

Edward frowned. "You want to walk?"

"Sure. You know, get some fresh air and exercise."

"What? Bella, you don't exercise," Edward said bluntly, looking confused as Riley watched on in amusement.

"I do. Sometimes."

"You don't. Ever."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Alright, fine! I don't exercise," Bella snapped, irritated and Edward looked smug. She patted the puppy still tucked under her arm, her annoyance ebbing away. "I want to walk so then I'll be able to show Hugsy off."

"Who are you showing him off to?"

"I don't know," Bella shrugged. "New York?"

Edward stared at her. "You want to walk ten blocks just so random people can see that you have a dog?"

Bella lifted Hugsy up. "A very _cute_ dog."

Edward cracked up laughing, as did Riley, and Edward opened up the trunk of the car again.

"Alright, we'll walk," Edward told her and then rummaged around in a bag for a moment before pulling out a leash. "Here."

"What's that for?"

"It's for you, obviously," Edward said sarcastically and pointed the leash at Hugsy. "It's Hug's leash."

"A leash?" Bella repeated with wide eyes, hugging the puppy closer to her. "I'm not putting him on a leash, the sidewalk is dirty. Plus, how are people supposed to see him if he's on the ground?"

"Alright, jeez. Carry him," Edward relented in exasperation and Bella grinned triumphantly. He put the leash into his back pocket and then pulled out a black collar from the bag. "Is it okay if you put this on him? Or do you want a bigger one so the astronauts up in space will be able to see it?"

"A collar is fine," Bella moved to stand next to him, placing Hugsy on top of the pet carrier in the trunk. "No, I want to do it!" she said loudly when Edward reached out to take off the ribbon around Hugsy's neck and she swiped the collar out of his hands.

"Are you sure you're thirty?" Edward asked her flatly, which Bella ignored him, cooing at Hugsy. Edward jabbed a thumb at her, glancing at Riley. "Is this what happens Riley? You turn thirty, but you actually act like a ten year old?"

"I couldn't tell you for sure Edward," Riley answered diplomatically, smiling from the sidewalk. "It's been a long time since I was thirty."

"Stop saying the number," Bella muttered and Edward chuckled. "By the way, who's stuff is that?" she added, nodding at the large duffel bag and suitcase that was also in the trunk.

"Mine," Edward answered. "I was going to ask if I could drop them off at your place while we dropped off Hugsy's stuff. I was planning on picking them up after the art gallery and go to Alice and Jasper's to spend the night at their place. But since you don't want to go back to your place anymore…" he trailed off, eyeing the bags dubiously.

"Riley could do it," Bella proclaimed, sliding the last fastening into place on Hugsy's collar. "You still have the key to my place, right?" she prompted Edward and he nodded. "Well, Riley could go to my place now, drop off all this stuff and leave my key on the kitchen counter. Right, Riley?" she prompted him.

Riley nodded. "I can do that, no problem."

"Are you sure, Riley?" Edward questioned, giving the squat, older man a once over with doubtful eyes.

Riley noticed and nodded firmly. "It may be have been a long time since I was thirty, but I'm sure I can handle carrying some bags up some stairs."

"He'll be fine," Bella assured Edward breezily and closed the hood of the trunk again, stepping back onto the sidewalk next to Riley. "He works for my mother and I've seen the kind of crap Renée buys. It's _heavy_."

"She does carry a lot of baggage," Riley remarked and Bella laughed. "Don't tell your mother I said that," he added sternly, moving past them toward the driver side.

"Thanks again Riley," Edward said and Riley nodded to him before getting in the car and merging into the traffic. "Nice upgrade, by the way," he added, referring to the SUV and they turned, making their way down the street. "Did your mom trade in the Lincoln?"

"It's not an upgrade," Bella told him, disgruntled. "The car's mine – my birthday present from Renée, but I'm letting Riley use it when he needs to."

"Your mom gave you a Porsche for your birthday? That's awesome."

Bella scoffed. "Yeah, it's so awesome. Apart from the fact that it's stick shift _and _that I don't have my drivers license. Awesome gift, thanks mom," she muttered, scratching Hugsy behind his ear.

"Will you let me drive it?"

"Yeah, sure."

Edward looked surprised at Bella's answer. "Really?"

Bella shrugged, laughing at his expression. "Yeah, really. It's just a car. Drive it as much as you want. I was planning on taking it with me to Palo Alto, but without a license, I'm not sure how that'll happen," she mused.

"Well, I could drive it."

Bella gave him an odd look as they continued to walk. "Yeah, I know. I just said you could."

"No, I mean, _I _could drive you to California," he declared, staring straight ahead.

Bella frowned, shifting Hugsy to her other arm. "You'd drive me all the way across the country?"

"Yes."

"And _why_ would you do that?" Bella prompted mockingly.

"Because _I'm_ moving there too," Edward said, mimicking her tone.

"…what?" Bella said sharply.

"Yeah," he nodded, laughing. "I got a job offer in California as well."

"_What?_" Bella snapped. She shoved his shoulder hard, causing Edward to stumble sideways a few steps in surprise before catching himself. "Why didn't youTELL ME?" she said loudly, glaring at him and Hugsy let out a sharp bark as well.

"I'm telling you right now!" Edward countered, indignant and rolled his shoulder. "And enough with the shoving!"

Bella let out a huff, calming herself before talking. "What's the job offer?"

"Similar with the housing and construction I was doing before, but an office job," Edward explained. "It's permanent, in Palo Alto with Carlisle's construction company at their head office. Carlisle offered it to me when we finished at Maymay Platt's and I told him I'd take it."

"Edward, that's great!" Bella said sincerely and raised her hand, making him flinch, eyeing her hand warily. She rolled her eyes and made her hand into a fist. Edward relaxed and they fist bumped. "And hey! Palo Alto is near Stanford," she added and then looked amused. "I just had an idea. You know what we should do?"

"No. What?"

"Find a place in between Palo Alto and Stanford and then move in together."

"We should _totally_ do that," Edward emphasized mockingly, laughing.

"Right? Right!" Bella remarked in amusement. "Maybe we could get one of those beach houses –"

"Or a house _near_ the beach," he corrected firmly. "Do not want sand everywhere."

"Fine. Get a house _near_ the beach," Bella amended drolly and Edward nodded emphatically. "With a big yard for Hugsy to run around in!" she brought the puppy close to her face, hugging him.

"And a house that comes with an outdoor barbeque –"

"And one that has high end windows and ceilings –"

"With a living room big enough to fit a gigantic flat screen –"

"And a bedroom with a big, big walk in closet –"

"With a front porch –"

"Oh, I've always wanted a house with a porch!" Bella remarked longingly. "Like those houses you see on TV with the potted plants and the outdoor furniture –"

"And a porch swing," Edward chimed in.

"Yea – whoa, _no_," Bella said heavily, catching herself and shook her head. "A porch swing? No, no, no."

"What's wrong with a porch swing?" Edward questioned with wide eyes.

"What are you, eighty?" Bella scoffed and Edward looked miffed. "Who uses a porch swing anymore?"

"People still use porch swings," Edward insisted defensively. "_I'd _use a porch swing."

"To do what? Guard your trash cans against local teenage hooligans?" she teased. "Watch the neighborhood kids skip rope in the street?"

"Alright, first of all, teenage hooligans? And _I'm_ the eighty year old?" Edward said pointedly. "And second, kids still skip rope."

"Edward, nobody's skipped rope since 1950."

"Too far."

"Oh, I'm sorry, old man. Did I offend you?"

"No, we've walked too far," Edward said, glancing around him and they doubled back a few paces before stopping in front of a brown building. Edward opened the door and they walked through. They stepped into the foyer of the building and down the hallway, Bella could see people milling around a large open area.

"In here," Edward nodded to a door on the far left of the foyer. Bella followed him inside to what looked like a small storage area, filled with cartons and crates.

"Have you been here before?" Bella asked, noticing Edward pocket a set of keys and watched him move with familiarity, shifting things around.

"Yeah. I was here this morning to help set up," he answered and then straightened up, waving his hand to a small space he had just cleared. "You can leave Hug here."

"Are you sure?" Bella glanced apprehensively around the small room.

"Its fine, no one will come in here," Edward told her and she put Hugsy down reluctantly in the small space. "We won't be that long anyway. Ten minutes, tops," he added as he pulled out Hugsy's leash from his pocket and clipped it to his collar, and then tied it to a radiator behind him. "Good boy," he said to the dog, patting him before standing up and moving out of the room.

Bella pouted, looking over her shoulder at Hugsy as she followed Edward out and then sighed when he closed the door.

"Let's get this over and done with," she muttered, walking down the hallway.

"You make it sound like this is painful for you," Edward remarked dryly.

"That because it is," Bella said, glancing around her when they reached the open space. They were in what looked like a small, abandoned warehouse with large, canvas photographs hanging up on the grey walls. People milled around holding drinks and stood in front of the artwork, talking in low voices. "We watch B–grade zombie movies in my bedroom while stuffing ourselves with Cheez Whiz and Doriotos. That's what we do. We _don't_ goto art galleries. Ever."

"It's more of an exhibition, actually," Edward noted and grinned at the flat look she gave him. "Come on, the piece I want to show you is on the other side."

"What's this piece about, anyway?" she asked curiously as she let Edward lead the way.

Edward shrugged. "Nothing really. I don't think there's a theme. It's just a work of Maymay Platt's."

"Is she famous?"

"No. At least, I don't think she is," Edward replied thoughtfully. "She has photographer friends in New York that take photos on the streets, they give her the shots they've taken and then she creates something with them. She only does one major piece a year and showcases it here, in the city."

"Ah. Okay," Bella said. She still felt somewhat confused as to why Edward was so keen on showing her this artwork, but decided to go along with it anyway.

"I'm being vague, I know," Edward mentioned. "But once you see the piece, you'll get it. Okay, here," They both stopped at far end of the warehouse, away from all the other art work, where a large picture hung from the wall with a two seater bench sitting four feet in front of it. "You've got to sit on the bench to view the piece properly."

Bella sat down on the beach with Edward next to her. "Is this the part where you tell me to stare at the photo with my eyes crossed and then glance at the white wall to see an image of an iPod?" she mocked.

"You _do _need to stare at the photo for a few seconds, but no, you won't see any iPods. Sorry."

"An iPad then?"

"Just look at the photo, Bella."

She shrugged and complied, facing the front to stare at the photo. Bella sized it to about eight by ten feet in size and what could only be described as 'busy.' It looked like a big jungle of images and illustrations with various photographic filters and textures over lapping them all. There was a layer of grime all over the picture as well, but it only seemed to add to the overall effect. The more time that Bella spent focusing on the piece, the more she felt like she was looking into some other reality entirely. It was rough and strange and bright. She tilted her head, feeling some sort recognition with the piece, but she ignored it.

"Wow," she stated dumbly, still staring. "Once you look at it, it's actually kind of…" she trailed off, frowning when she made out two figures. "Oh my God," she blurted out in realization.

"Don't freak out," Edward interjected and Bella glanced quickly at him to see that he was regarding her cautiously then back at the photo.

"Edward, that's…" she spluttered in disbelief, leaning forward.

"I know."

"Edward, that's us!" Bella finally managed to say, still shocked. "It's a photo of us!"

"I know," Edward echoed calmly and he looked amused.

"It's a photo of us _kissing_!" Bella said loudly, her voice shrill. The jungle of images and illustrations actually made up one huge picture of Edward and Bella in a tight embrace. Their faces were distorted enough through the textures and filters, but Bella could tell it was them from her hair and the clothes Edward was wearing.

"Shhh!" he said, laughing quietly and scooted closer to her on the bench. "Not so loud. People are staring."

Bella sat back on the bench slowly, gaping at the photograph in a daze. "_Why _is there a photo of us kissing – in an art gallery – in New York?"

"Remember, when I said that Maymay Platt gets her photos from photographers in New York?" Edward prompted her, keeping his voice low and Bella nodded slowly. "When we kissed that night last year, there must've been a photographer around who took a photo of us."

Bella frowned, thinking back. "I vaguely remember seeing some random taking photos of things around us. Vaguely," she added and then went back to regarding the photography piece. "So, did Maymay Platt use a photo of us because she recognized you or…"

Edward shook his head. "No, I recognized us actually. When I was at her house and Maymay Platt was showing me around, I saw her workspace and there was a photo of us sitting on her workbench. I asked her about it, and she explained what she does with the photos," he gestured to the photography piece. "And I told her that that was us, in the photo. She, Esme and Carlisle were surprised, to say the least. I think Esme said something about Maymay Platt using the photo with me in it, working for Carlisle, and then finding the family as 'fate and destiny.'"

"Destiny? Really?" Bella said skeptically.

"Yeah, I don't know," he remarked with a shrug, facing the photography piece again. "I think it's more coincidence than anything."

Bella followed his actions, turning to the front and sighed. "I can't believe there's photographic proof of me making out with Edward Masen."

"Ten foot high photographic proof," he corrected teasingly and nudged her arm.

"Yeah," Bella muttered and then glanced down at his arm. They were sitting directly side by side, his arm up against hers. She turned her head partially in Edward's direction, with him still staring ahead at their photo and like before at the park, Bella found herself oddly distracted by him. The way his new haircut revealed his ears a bit more, the way his sweater stretched across his chest, the cuff of his watch around his wrist…everything highlighted something unbearably wonderful.

And, suddenly, Bella wanted to touch him.

Not just a push or a shove, or even a friendly hug either. She wanted to grab Edward by the face and make out with him.

"I think our ten minutes is up," Edward said, glancing at his watch and his movements startled Bella out of her thoughts. He didn't seem to notice, and stood up from the bench. "You ready to go?"

"Yup yeah sure let's go," Bella responded rapidly, nodding and shot up from the bench.

Edward gave her an odd look as they walked past the other artwork, back toward the foyer. "Yup yeah?"

Bella felt her face go warm and exhaled a forced laugh to pass it off as a joke. When they made it back to the storage room to retrieve Hugsy, Edward started talking but Bella stayed quiet, standing in the doorway, not paying him or her puppy any attention.

"Hey boy, hey Hug. You ready to go? Good dog, lets go."

Bella remained silent because she was thinking. She was trying to think of a reason as to _why _she was having attractive thoughts about Edward and began listing some possibilities.

"Okay. She's not paying attention and isn't begging to carry you, so we can use your leash like a proper dog."

Bella thought back to the start, the day they first met–both of them sprawled out on the sidewalk and her getting angry with him for groping her.

"Hey, can we go pick up my stuff from your place…."

Bella thought perhaps her attraction could be similar to that of some sort of delayed preprogrammed biological cave woman reaction to a caveman (Edward) saving her from a saber–toothed tiger (the bus.)

"And then I can go to Alice and Jasper's from there. Though, as soon as I get to your place, I'm changing out of these pants."

Then, Bella thought about him being away and the phrase 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' popped into her head. While it was true that when Edward was in California, she did miss him during the eight months he was gone. Particularly when she received a voice recording from him in an email. When Edward talked about his day, she felt like she was there and there was always something in his conversation, just for her, to make her laugh.

" …I don't even know why I wore these pants in the first place. I should've just worn my Levi's…anyway–"

Then, Bella thought back to a day two months ago when she visited Kate, who was bouncing off the walls in excitement because of what Edward had sent her from when he was in Los Angeles. It was an autograph from the actress that played _iCarly_ on the TV show because she had been in the same store that Edward had been in. Bella remembered thinking how sweet it was for him to remember that Kate was a fan of the show and to also ask for an autograph from a tween TV star for an eight year old girl who was neither his own kid or related to him in any way.

"You're kinda quiet. I don't think you've heard anything of what I've just said, right?"

Then Bella thought back to earlier in the week, to her birthday. She had received a lot of flowers that day from nearly everyone she knew: both of her parents, her friends, Angela, Riley. They were all very lovely and colorful bouquets, but when Edward's arrangement arrived, it was by far the best one. It wasn't the biggest or the most expensive looking, but when Bella placed Edward's bouquet next to the plain and stock standard ones from her family and friends, it was clear that he had put some time and actual effort into choosing the flowers.

"Yeah, didn't think so. Alright, I'll just stand here and wait for you to talk. Or maybe I'll just walk away…"

Bella summed up her thoughts and came to the conclusion that along with being attracted to him in the physical sense, she also found him to be funny, kind and thoughtful. Then, she tried to think about what she was like with Edward and could only come up with the feeling of being happy. She felt happy, all the time, and with that simple thought, Bella _finally_ figured it out.

"Okay, I'm not gonna walk away. That would be mean. But could you please say something because now you've got me thinking that I've pissed you off with showing you the photograph …"

Somewhere between all their laughs, long talks, stupid little fights, and all their jokes, she fell in love with him.

"…so say something Bella, anything. Even if it's just 'I don't think we can be friends anymore, I hate you and –"

"Holy shit, I love you."

"Oh, thank God," Edward let out a dramatic exhale, looking relieved, then promptly walked away.

Bella stayed rooted at the spot, too shocked to move. She couldn't tell whether she was more shocked at his indifferent reaction to her declaration or the fact that they had walked out of the gallery without her realizing it and were now outside on the street.

Edward noticed that Bella wasn't following him and glanced back, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What now?" he called out impatiently.

Bella came back to her senses and stomped toward him. "Didn't you hear what I said?" she questioned, indignant.

"Yeah, you said 'I love you,'" Edward answered with a casual shrug. He moved Hugsy's leash from one hand to the other and Bella glanced down to see the dog sitting patiently at their feet. Edward nudged her upper arm and grinned. "Love you too, Bella."

He laughed and walked away, again. Bella realized that he had said it back because he thought she was saying 'I love you' in a 'ha-ha, funny/friendly' kind of way.

That was definitely _not_ the way Bella had meant it.

Bella caught up with Edward, grabbing his arm to stop him. "No, Edward, I'm _in love_ with you. I love you. A lot."

Now that Bella knew she was in love with Edward, she had to tell him. Later, when she thought back to it, Bella realized she should've given him more time to adjust, but she had a feeling of urgency spreading through her that made the words tumble out of her mouth without anything to stop them.

"Bella, you –" Edward started to say but Bella didn't let him finish.

"I love it when you half smile whenever I say something funny, and the days when we just sit in my room and eat junk food like we're seventeen and watch stupid movies. I love that. And when Alice goes into one of her rants or says something lame, you seek me out to exchange an eye roll, I love that too."

"Okay, that's –"

"And I love that you're _nice_." she blurted out, still going. "I don't mean that in a condescending way either. You're actually a genuinely nice person. To everyone!"

"Can I just –"

"I love your hair and the fact that you cut it yourself!" Now on a roll, Bella barreled on, her words coming out nonsensical and crazed. "I don't care what Alice says. I think it looks really good!"

"Maybe I should –"

"And I love your boyish laugh and – and that your shirts are always, _always_ wrinkled not matter what." She finished her rant with a dramatic flourish, her voice lifting in pitch. "and I love your hands, your hair, and I love your large green eyes so much I could die!"

"You already mentioned my hair."

"Yeah, well, I meant it." Bella's hand was still clutching his arm and she let go, dropping her hand to her side.

For almost ten seconds, Edward did nothing but stare. Then his mouth was gently pressing against hers, eyes open as if waiting to see if she would push him away. When his lips met hers, he felt her physically start, but Bella didn't pull away either. Instead, she raised herself onto her toes, closed her eyes and leaned into him. She was kissing Edward. Properly kissing, with no hesitation.

Her whole body suddenly felt warm as Edward deepened the kiss, holding her more tightly to him. She could feel that he was bending down as far as he could that she could set her heels back down on the ground and not totter. He was supporting her so they could kiss even harder and she was digging her fingers into his back to bring him closer.

This was a real and proper kiss, the kind that actually makes you feel like your body is going completely gelatinous and you _like_ it.

"You love my large green eyes so much you could die?" Edward murmured against her lips.

"I don't know what that means. It just sort of came out," Bella murmured back, kissing him again.

Edward drew back, his breath warm on her cheek. "You love me?"

"A little, yeah," Bella replied and Edward kissed her jaw.

"You said 'a lot.'"

"Okay, a lot," Bella amended and his tongue touched her skin just as he pulled his lips away. Bella reached up and put her forehead to his forehead and held him there with the back of his hair. "You kissed me."

"A little, yeah," he echoed, smiling, eyes glittering and kissed her again, slowly and thoroughly this time. Then, he moved on to her neck; after, the spot behind her ear, followed by the place where her neck becomes her shoulder. Exploring, little kisses that made Bella's shoulders shake.

Bella pressed herself against him as hard as she could, considering they were in standing on the sidewalk, out in public. They kissed again and again, Bella unable to get enough of him. Edward seemed to feel the same way, because he drew back so he can look her in the eye and Bella had a hard time focusing her eyes on him.

"Can we go back to your place?"

For the first time in a long time, Bella doesn't pause to take a moment and analyze Edward's question or what they would be doing at her place or what they wouldn't be doing. "Okay," she told him, heart pounding but she wants to and because she's going to.

Edward stood up straight and pulled Bella through the crowded sidewalk so fast she got the giggles. She glanced down at Hugsy trotting alongside them at their feet and that made her catch sight of her legs. Her legs that were covered in black tights because they were unshaven after the busy week she had just had. And then Bella remembered that in the morning she was feeling particularly frumpy and had put on Spanx under her dress to make herself feel better.

Bella's legs were unshaven, she was wearing Spanx and she had just agreed to go back to her place with Edward.

"Stop!" she blurted out, stricken and tugged on Edward's hand. "Edward, stop," they stopped, people moving around them on the sidewalk and Edward turned to face her. "We can't go back to my place."

A little frown formed between Edward's eyes and Bella felt his hand loosen its hold but she gripped it tighter.

"No, I mean, we can," Bella added hurriedly, stepping toward him. "Just not together. I need to go home before I – before we do –" she let out a huff, too flustered and embarrassed to tell him why. "Just, before you."

"Before me," Edward repeated flatly and ran a hand through his hair. "Um…okay?"

"Thirty minutes," Bella stated, her tone slightly desperate. "Give me a thirty minute head start and then you can come to my place."

Edward gave her an odd look, as if waiting for her to continue. "This would be the part where you tell me _why_ you need a thirty minute head start."

Bella shrugged and shifted, feeling antsy as well as stupid for not being bothered to shave her legs that morning. "I just – I just do, okay?"

"Not really," Edward muttered, his frown deepening. "Is there something at your place you need to get rid of that you don't want me to see?"

"No, there isn't any –"

"Some_one_ then?"

"What? No. No, there's no one," Bella said, shaking her head and Edward pursed his lips slightly. She let go of his hand, moving both her arms around his neck so she could press herself against him to prove how badly she wanted him. "There isn't anything or anyone at my place that I need a head start to get rid of. I promise."

Bella stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, then pulled back slightly so that their lips stayed close. She put the palm of her hand against his jaw, memorizing the shape of his face, the way his bones felt and the slight bit of beard that was scratching her cheeks.

"Thirty minutes. Please?"

Edward blinked. She felt his eyelashes on her eyelids. "Alright. Thirty minutes."

"Okay," Bella exhaled in relief, smiling. "Thank you."

"This isn't one of those things is it?" Edward asked as he pulled back and Bella bent down to scoop Hugsy up from the ground. "Where you need thirty minutes to, you know, pick apart what just happened, like you do with everything thing else?"

"No, it isn't," Bella replied, shifting Hugsy to her other arm. "At least not right now. I can do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow," Bella leaned forward, kissing him again and Edward reached down to interlock his fingers with hers. Like before when she agreed to have Edward come back to her place, she knows she's making the right choice in just having and wanting her moment with him. With Edward, it's different. "Okay, I'm going."

Edward nodded, squeezing her hand but she stayed put, not moving. For a moment, they just stared, frozen like that.

Hugsy squirmed against Bella's arm, breaking their moment. Bella dropped Edward's hand, taking a step away from him.

"Okay, now I'm _really _going," Bella stated decisively.

"Right," Edward bent down and kissed her again. The kiss was simple; they stood still except for Edward's pressure on her lips. But inside, every cell in Bella's body turned a back flip to blind.

Bella broke the kiss and he started to follow, but stood straight when she backed up a few paces. "Soyeahyseeyoulaterbye," she croaked, struggling to talk and then turned around, walking away quickly.

She heard Edward laugh again, louder this time but resisted the urge to turn around and continued walking. She did, however, let a grin take over her face so large that it spread from ear to ear, not caring that it probably made her look like a silly, lovesick teen.

Hugsy started to get squirmy again and Bella stopped to set him down on the ground. On reflex, she glanced back at Edward. She smiled at him and watched as he smiled back and she knows that whatever will or won't happen when he shows up after thirty minutes, will be worth it.

* * *

><p>This is the chapter where everything comes together. There's no EPOV because if you go back to chapter 1 - the EPOV in that links up with the ending of this. Essentially, all EPOVitalic parts should make sense now.

I adore, adore everyone reading this, alerting this, plus the ones that leave me their thoughts. I'd love to hear more - whether you thought this was corny, lame or somewhere in the middle...

**souplover9** is a really great beta *insert something witty and not at all lame/weird that I can't think of right now*

**Next chapter: The morning after.**


	13. Everyone has a lobster

**_I want you_**

**_I need you_**

**_I love you_**

**_I miss you_**

**_Like crazy_**

_~Like Crazy [film; 2011]_

_**Monda**__**y, 8:42am**_

The phone was ringing.

Ringing.

Ringing.

"Mmmph. 'lla, answer your phone."

"S'yours," Bella muttered, groggily and burrowed her face into Edward's chest in attempt to drown out the shrill tone. "Not mine."

"Isn't," Edward mumbled back, over her head, just as groggy. "Turned it on silent last night. 'Cause I'm smart like that."

"Mines on silent too."

Still ringing.

Edward groaned. "Don't think t'is."

"Erugh," Bella flexed her fingers against Edward's back. "Make it stop. Wanna _sleep_."

Then, suddenly, Edward let go of her and rolled out of bed. The ringing ceased a moment later, making Bella sigh happily. She felt Edward slip back into bed and then something rectangular and cold press against her ear.

"Hello?"

Bella jerked in surprise and her eyes snapped open, to see Edward holding what seemed to be her phone to her ear.

"Told you," he mouthed, lying in front of her, eyes half open and smiling sleepily.

The person on the phone spoke again. "Bella? Hello?"

"Angela, hi," Bella replied quickly and took the phone from Edward. She kicked his leg, hard, as she scooted up to rest against the wall behind her bed, pulling the bed sheet up to cover herself. "You're a jerk," she mouthed, glaring at him.

Edward just smiled, rolling onto his back, his eyes sliding shut again as Angela spoke. "Hi Bella. Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

"No, I was already up," she fibbed and Edward chuckled, covering his eyes with his arm. She kicked him again. "I was just lounging around in bed," she added lamely.

"Well, you can lounge a little longer if you like," Angela told her. "The mathematics department have added another section to their agenda, and they're before you, so I need to push our meeting ahead an hour because of it. So, eleven o'clock instead of ten. Is that alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Bella replied, staring at Edward. She had completely forgotten about the teacher in-service day at the school today. The in-service days were usually about sorting through timetables and subject syllabi with other teachers but because Bella was leaving, Angela had organized that they use today to interview perspective candidates to take over Bella's position and wanted her to sit in. "That's fine with me."

"Excellent," Angela said breezily and Bella heard another voice in the background on her end of the line. "Sorry for the rushed phone call, but I have to go. I'll see you at eleven?"

"See you then," Bella said, without enthusiasm. "Bye Angela."

"Bye."

Bella hung up and placed her phone on her nightstand. She sighed, long and heavy, slumping back down on the bed and pulled the blanket over her head. Edward ducked underneath, moving over her. He kissed her eyelids, her forehead, her cheeks, her nose and she laughed because it tickled.

"That was a very dramatic sigh."

"I have a meeting at the school later today that I forgot about," she explained and splayed her hands across his broad shoulders.

Edward's face dipped down an inch. His face felt lightly scratchy against hers. "So don't go."

"Nah, I have to. But it did get pushed forward an hour," she said pointedly and giggled again as his lips brushed across her cheeks.

"So, not till later?"

"Not till later," Bella affirmed and he closed the distance between them to kiss her, softly at first and then deeper. She felt his tongue slip inside her mouth. Felt his hand touch her bare skin at her waist. Their blanket cocoon quickly warmed up and they pulled it back but then stopped, going still the moment they did.

Bella moved away slightly from Edward, listening closely to the faint scratching sound. "What is that?" she whispered.

"It's Hug. I think he wants out of the bathroom to use the bathroom," Edward answered and he was still close enough that she could feel his mouth move. He moved off her and they both sat up at the waist at the same time. "I can go, " he volunteered.

"Okay."

"Where are you going?" Edward asked when she started getting out of bed too.

"I'm getting up so I can get dressed," she told him, turning back to him. "And then we can go out and talk."

"Out?" Edward repeated, frowning. "I don't want to go outside, there are people out there. If we stay here, then we can be naked. All the time."

"I don't have any food in my apartment."

"Then we can just go out, get something and then come back. Easy peezy."

"I think it's better if we talk outside of the apartment," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and picking up her robe from the bedroom chair. "That way, you won't be distracted."

"Distracted? I'll be fine."

"Edward, you've spent this entire conversation staring at my boobs."

His eyes cut to hers as she tied her robe closed. "In my defense, they were staring at me first," Bella picked up his shirt from the floor, throwing it at him and he laughed and she found herself smiling too. "Alright, fine," he relented. "We'll go out. Where to?"

**\\-\\**

"So, we're just gonna bring him everywhere we go from now on?"

"I didn't want to leave him in the apartment," Bella replied, sitting on the bench and Edward beside her. "It's too small. He'd go stir crazy."

"He's, like, this big," Edward moved his hands a small distance away from each other. "I'm pretty sure your place is a mansion to him."

"Doesn't matter," Bella said, leaning over to unclip the leash off Hugsy and to put down her purse on the floor. "I still want to show him off to everyone."

They stayed silent for a moment, watching Hugsy walk around their feet before Edward shifted, slouching slightly on the bench.

"I think this is unnecessary, just so you know," he commented, opening the brown paper bag containing their bagels, and handed Bella one.

Bella frowned, tearing off a piece and popping it in her mouth. "You don't think we need to talk about what happened last night?"

"No. I mean, yeah, we need to talk," Edward said and then stared in front of him. "I just don't see why we have to do it _here_."

Edward and Bella were in the art gallery from the previous day, sitting on the bench in front of their photograph with their bagels. There was a bagel place across the street so Edward bought three for himself and one for Bella. The gallery was empty but Edward said it was fine for them to be there, just as long as they didn't do anything to the artworks or make too much of a mess with their bagel crumbs.

"Because I think it's a good starting point," she told him, regarding the photo. "I'm trying to figure out how went from that kiss," she waved a hand at it. "To what happened last night."

Edward shrugged and moved to put his arm around her shoulder. "I don't know. Maybe we grew as people while we were apart? We're more mature and wise now? You've suddenly grown attracted to gingers with bad sideburns?"

"Yeah, maybe," Bella muttered distractedly, not listening and glanced at Edward's hand on her shoulder.

He noticed her looking and brushed his fingers against her. "Is this okay?"

"It's more than okay," she sighed, leaning into his side as he finished off his bagel. "That's another thing I don't get – why I like it when you touch me. And this morning, that was especially confusing."

"Confusing as in, when your phone rang? Because cell phones tend to do that from time to time."

"No, not that –"

"Oh, you mean when we were in bed and you were being giggly?" he teased.

"You kissed my nose! It tickled!" she countered, poking his leg, but felt her face warm up. "What I mean by confusing was when we woke up. It was weird because it _wasn't _weird," she said and paused to take a bite of her bagel, chewing. "Shouldn't it have been filled with awkward silences and avoiding eye contact and rushed goodbyes?"

Edward sounded intrigued as he took out his second bagel. "Is that what morning after's are usually like for you?"

"Honestly? Yeah, they kind of are," she admitted, thinking about quick exit's, rustling sheets and mumbles of 'see you later.' Waking up with Edward, there was no ache or bitter taste, not even regret for falling into bed with her friend. "The way we acted this morning–waking up together, showering, and getting dressed–you'd think we've been dating for _years_. It was all so natural, like we'd always been doing it."

They fell into silence and Bella waited. When Edward didn't say anything and continued eating, she poked him again.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

"What do you want me say?" Edward remarked with a laugh, squeezing her shoulder. "_You're_ the one who's over analyzing this."

"I over analyze situations because I'm scared of what will happen if I'm not prepared for it," Bella said. Edward laughed lightly and kissed the top of her head. She watched Hugsy walk, his nose to the ground before speaking again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Edward's arm dropped from her shoulder as she turned to face him. "When I told you I loved you yesterday, you laughed in my face…and then you kissed me."

"That's not a question."

"Edward," she said softly.

Edward mirrored her posture, brushing his hands clean of bagel crumbs into the paper bag. "Why did _you_ kiss me? I'm answering your question, I swear," he added quickly at the exasperated look on her face.

Bella frowned. "Because of reasons."

"What reasons?"

"Because of your wrinkled shirts and awesome hair," Bella said in exasperation and the corners of Edward's mouth twitched and she turned serious. "Because I love you, stupid."

"Exactly," Edward replied smoothly.

That one word was enough to send a hundred butterflies into flutter mode and Bella felt like her tongue had been glued to the roof of her mouth. Edward continued to stare at her; the hint of humor in his gaze vanished.

"You love me?" she finally managed to say.

Edward shifted and faced forward again. "I had this big speech prepared and I was going to tell you after showing you this," he nodded at the photograph and then he grinned, glancing at Bella. "Then I chickened out and wasn't gonna say anything. But you turned out to be a better person and beat me to it with your rant."

"I got caught off guard by my feelings hitting me out of nowhere," she muttered, shrugging one shoulder. "That's why I ranted."

"It was a good rant. I liked it," Edward said, kissing her quickly.

"Can I still hear the speech?"

Edward shook his head. "Um, no."

Bella laughed lightly, pushing his arm. "Why not?"

"I don't want to."

"If your speech was prepared, then it's already ten times better than what I said yesterday," she told him.

"Not really," Edward remarked, shaking his head again. "It's cheesy."

"I like cheese. Cheese is good."

"Alright, fine," Edward sighed, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. "I'll give you my speech. But I'm going to have to change some things in it because of last night."

"Yay," Bella grinned, kissing his cheek. "Okay. Go."

Edward laughed once and then took Bella's hand, toying with her fingers. "When I was in California, I thought about you," he began. "All the time. I didn't think about much that wasn't you. I'd hear something, see something, and even smell something that would make me think of you.

"And I really _missed_ you," he remarked quietly and he laced his fingers through hers. "Not the ordinary, 'I-miss-you' type of thing where I wish you were with me. But the type of miss that felt like a part of me is missing, like it's gone and I need it back. That's the type of miss I felt. It wasn't an 'I-want-you-with-me;' it was an 'I-_need_-you-with-me.'

"And I don't care how cliché that sounds," Edward continued with a light laugh. "I like how we went from being friends to what we are now, doesn't feel like a cliché. What we are doesn't feel like something you read about in books or see in movies. It feels new and I like that.

"I like you," he added, glancing at her. "I like your brains, I like your sarcasm. I like it when I argue with you, and if you think of a good comeback hours later, you call me and say it. I like the way you dress and as of last night, I like the way you undress. I like having sex with you," he stated boldly, with a growing smile. "I like the weight of you on top of me. I like the way that you curve, bend, arch, and rise and fall. I like the muscle in your jaw that twitches when you sleep. I like who I am when I'm with you. I'm still learning, but I like how you make me better.

"I like it when you laugh. If there's such a thing as a pretty laugh, you have it. I like how you look at me," Edward grew serious again, lifting his other hand and brushed his fingers against her cheek. "But what I like the most is when you said 'I love you' yesterday. That, that right there, was the best thing a girl had ever said to me. And I love you too."

His head dipped down and his lips came close to hers. Bella inhaled shakily and whatever moment they were about to have was gone when she let go of his hand and leaned away from him.

"Get up."

Edward pulled back, stunned. "What?"

"You need to get up. Please," she added hastily and glanced around her. "Hugsy!" she called out. "Here boy!"

Listening to Edward speak was so good, but at the same time, she could hardly stand it and needed something to hold on to. And now she was shaking slightly from gripping the underside of the bench so hard. If she had more muscle strength and if the bench were made out flimsy, cheap materials, she was sure it would've splintered with the amount of pressure she was putting on it.

"Why do I have to get up?" Edward questioned, with wide eyes, but stood and watched as Hugsy approached them. "What did I say? Did you not like what I said?"

"I need to just _not_ sit right next to you for a couple of minutes," Bella stated firmly, scooping Hugsy up and setting him next to her on the bench, making him sit. "Otherwise, I'll kiss you and you'll kiss me back and then we'll end up doing things that won't involve much clothing," she prattled.

Edward made a face. "Yeah, us kissing without clothes on is the _worst_."

"I just need a second to think," Bella gestured to the space on the other side of Hugsy. "You can sit back down now."

"Thank you," Edward said sarcastically, sitting down. There was now about four inches of space between them with Hugsy sitting in the middle. "What do you need a second to think about?" he asked her and Hugsy nudged him, wanting attention.

"Nothing, really, you just caught me off guard," Bella answered, shaking her head. "What you said wasn't what I was expecting, that's all."

"What _were_ you expecting?"

"Some sort of lewd comment about my breasts? I don't know," Bella said in exasperation and Edward cracked up. "Where did you even get all that from?"

"I told you – Madison to New York is a really long drive," He said wryly, scratching Hugsy behind the ears. "Spent the majority of it thinking up the right words to say. That's how much I'm into you," his mouth formed a teasing smile but his eyes were anything but.

"Okay…okay," Bella repeated and blinked twice, her mind swirling, trying to take it all in and to come up with how to react.

"Do you want me to keep going?" Edward asked, now fully teasing. "Because I can. I could probably even make up some sort of poem for you, if you like."

"No. That isn't –"

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. I hate rhyming. Zebra."

Bella laughed, shaking her head. "What?"

"Okay, yeah, that was dumb. Let me try again," Edward glanced around him, thoughtfully. His eyes fell on the window to their left. "The sun is up. The sky is blue. It is beautiful, and so are you," he glanced back at Bella, grinning.

"That's better," she said, smiling shyly and pressing her fingers against her face to hide her blush.

"Or, I could just say 'I love you' but in different ways?" Edward continued, clearly enjoying the reaction he was getting from her. He tried to rearrange his face into a serious expression. "When we first met, I had no idea you would be so important to me."

"You really don't need –"

"And then my soul saw you and it went 'oh, there you are. I've been looking for you.'"

"Okay, that one's just cheesy and you can stop –"

"If I were a cat, I'd spend all my nine lives with you."

"What? A cat?"

"I love you more than everybody loves Raymond."

"Alright, I get it –"

Edward moved his foot, nudging the empty brown bag from their bagels on the floor. "You are the cream cheese to my bagel."

"Food related romance, okay."

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Could I BE anymore in love with you?"

Bella laughed loudly, the sound echoing around the empty gallery and Edward grinned. She shook her head and then made to get up, but Edward reached over, covering her hand with his on the bench to stop her.

"One more," Edward said and looped his pinkie finger with hers. "I really love you Bella," he said and him saying that, plus the way he was looking at her, made her heart rate kick up about a hundred notches. "That's the only way you're going to hear it from me. No pretty drawings or artwork–" he tilted his head slightly to their photograph. "No poems or cryptic messages– I don't know how to do any of that. I just know that I don't want anyone but you. I don't want to be anywhere but with you."

And with that, Edward finally stopped talking and he and Bella just sat there, pinkies linked, looking at each other, until Bella moved toward him this time.

"Sorry Hugsy," she picked him up, placing him back on the ground so that there wasn't any space between them. She kissed Edward and he held her body against his, as close and comfortably as their sitting-on-a-bench position would allow, when a muffled chiming sound coming from Bella's purse interrupted them.

They pulled away from each other, breathing hard. "I'm going to throw your phone into the Hudson," Edward glared at her purse. "Seriously. I'll do it."

"Sorry. I set the alarm," Bella explained sheepishly, reaching over to switch it off. "So I wouldn't be late for my meeting. Just in case we got carried away and forgot the time."

"We weren't even close to being 'carried away.' That was just 'carried.' We were only up to the 'car' stage."

"Well, later we can add the 'rried' and the 'away' part, if you like," Bella told him and kissed him gently. "Promise."

"Fine," Edward relented with a sigh and pushed himself up, standing. He extended his hand, helping Bella up. "Come on. I'll walk you to your forced knowledge factory," Bella gave him a questioning glance as she gathered her things. "School. I'll walk you to school," he clarified.

Bella thumped his shoulder with the palm of her hand. "You're an idiot."

They stepped outside of the art gallery and into the street. Edward put his arm around her shoulders, with her arm wrapped around his waist and Hugsy's leash in her other hand.

"I think I like walking like this with you," Edward said suddenly, maneuvering them through the crowded sidewalk.

"Yeah?" Bella asked. She liked it too.

Edward nodded, looking nonchalant. "It'll make things easier when I have to save you from one of those." He looked pointedly at the road beside them and Bella looked in time to see a bus rolling past them.

Bella made a sound of frustration and reached up and pinched his arm that was around her shoulder. He flinched and laughed, but kept his arm there.

"So, what will you do while I'm in my meeting?" she asked, as they stopped at a set of lights and waited to cross. She frowned, staring longingly at Hugsy, who was sitting on the sidewalk. "You're going to have to take Hugsy. I won't be able to bring him with me inside the school."

"That's okay. I can take him," Edward answered. "Maybe I'll go visit Jasper or something. Tell him about this hot girl I scored with last night."

"You do that," Bella rolled her eyes. "And while I'm at my meeting, I can tell Angela about this guy I spent the night with and how he was the best I ever had."

Edward grinned widely. "_Really?_"

"Yeah. And then once I'm done telling her about that guy, I'll tell her about you."

"Ouch," the grin slipped off Edward's face as they entered the street of her school and he looked sullen. "That was mean. I know I started it, but that was unnecessary. And also mean."

"That's what you get for the bus comment," Bella remarked and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

They stopped at a sidewalk coffee vendor opposite the school and while Bella ordered, it became obvious to Edward that people were staring at him… no, at _them_. He realized then that people had probably been doing it every other time he and Bella had been out together, but Edward hadn't actually noticed. Now that he had, he couldn't _not_ notice and he didn't like it.

The vendor handed Bella her coffee and as she stirred her sugar in, she noticed Edward's preoccupation.

"You okay?" she prompted him, licking the stirrer then throwing it in the trash.

"Does it bother you?" he asked.

"What?"

"You know." Edward looked off to his right, and Bella followed his gaze and saw a group of women in their mid-thirties avert their eyes and then talk in hushed tones. "The staring."

"People stare at us all the time," Bella pointed out and then shrugged. "Well, _people_ look at me. Women, specifically, stare at you. Which will stop," she added and then made a slashing motion with her free hand, "once I cut them with my knife."

Edward remained troubled, not responding to Bella's teasing. "It's weird," he said. "I never noticed it before today for some reason."

Bella took a sip of her coffee before she spoke. "Does it bother _you_?"

Edward glanced around him as he answered. "People look at me because they're grateful they're not me. They look at you because they want to _be_ you," he saw Bella's look of confusion and he added, "for two people that are together, we couldn't be any more different."

"Your point?" Bella asked, irritated that Edward was ruining her sunny mood and because he was pointing out the obvious. Everything from their height difference to the clothes they were wearing were stark opposites. Edward with his hoodie, scuffed up sneakers, floppy hair, tattoos and pierced hands, neck and ears, was being compared to Bella, who had her hair pulled away from her face, minimal makeup and her designer handbag, high end silk top and skirt, and heels.

"Bella, you're a Harvard graduate with a doctorate's degree," he mentioned. "I'm a ex-drug addict and meth head with a pretty low standard of education. Do you think you can handle telling all your friends you're with someone like me?"

"_All _my friends?" Bella repeated with a scoff, giving Edward a pointed look. "Why are you making it sound as if I know the whole population of Manhattan? You know I only have, like, three friends. Who all approve of you, by the way. One of them in particular approves of you so much that I'm pretty sure once she reaches legal age, is going to steal you away from me and then make you buy all the hamsters in the world for her."

Edward cracked a reluctant smile and Bella watched him closely as it faded and he pushed his hands through his hair.

"I didn't know you were so…" she trailed off, trying to find the right word. "Self conscious," she finally settled on and Edward shook his head.

"It's not so much me being self conscious as it is me being insecure," Edward replied, dropping his hands from his hair. "For a long time, I kept getting told 'it gets better' and 'everything will be okay,'" he looked lost and his face was almost unbearably vulnerable that Bella wanted to reach out and hold on. "And I used to think how stupid and useless those words used to be because it never got better. It just got different…" with an expression so tender it made something spasm in Bella's throat, he took her hand and kissed it. "But I'm thinking that those words aren't so useless now."

"Yeah. It's better for me too," Bella's voice was hoarse and she cleared her throat, trying to clear the ache, but failed. "You should really kiss me now," she added shakily, "before I burst into tears in the middle of the street."

Edward gazes at her and when he lifts her chin, it's like the movies, but not at all, because it's actually happening. His mouth on hers is warm and soft, and they're kissing in public, blocking people from trying to get coffee from the street-vendor. Bella's vaguely aware that they're obstructing the people that are trying to move around them; that a group of little kids are making comments; and that Hugsy is walking in between them and stepping all over their shoes.

It's the kind of kiss that makes them lose all sense of time and place... that is, until someone calls out Bella's name, snapping them back to reality.

"Woo! Get it, Doctor Swan!"

Bella pulled back so fast she bumped into a woman walking by, who shot her a dark look over her shoulder before continuing on. Edward handled the interruption better, pulling his hands away from her waist and turning to face Angela standing a few feet away.

"No, please continue," Angela said cheerfully with a wide smile. "Don't stop dry humping each other in broad daylight on my account."

"Hello, Angela," Bella greeted, wary. "How are you?"

"Good. But not as good as _you_," Angela added pointedly, eyes twinkling.

"Ang," Bella said in a warning tone and Angela just smiled brightly. "What are you doing out here anyway? Shouldn't you be in a discussion meeting with the mathematics department?"

"Oh, we resolved things earlier than expected, so I decided to get a coffee," Angela explained holding up said coffee. "For a group that make a big deal out of telling students not to take shortcuts when working out equations, they sure know how to get out of a meeting real fast. Can I just take this opportunity," she smirked, eyeing the way Edward and Bella had just shifted toward each other. "To say I told you so? Because I did. I. Told. You. So," she emphasized, giddy and then caught sight of Hugsy. "Oh! And who is this fluffy bastard?"

"What is she talking about?" Edward murmured in Bella's ear as Angela bent down to scoop up Hugsy. "I told you so?"

"It's nothing. She's just crazy," Bella whispered back, shaking her head. "I'll tell you later."

"God dammit, this thing is cute as crap," Angela gushed, holding Hugsy in the crook her arm and tickling his stomach. "Can I have him? I want him. I'm taking him."

"His name's Hugsy," Bella told her. "He's my birthday gift from Edward."

"What a sweet and thoughtful gift," Angela stated in an over exaggerated tone. "You might even call it a _friendly_ gift. Right Edward? Could you say it this puppy is a _friendly_ gift?"

Edward shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"For you, Edward as a _friend_," Angela continued in the same tone and Bella gave her a droll look. "To give your other _friend _Bella, a gift of _friendly_ nature. Man, I wish I had a _friend_ like that –"

"Okay. Time for us to go now," Bella interjected flatly. Angela widened her eyes in a 'what did I say?' kind of way and Bella turned back to Edward. "I'll be about two, three hours, but we should be finished by two o'clock. I'll call you and maybe we can do something?"

"Or you could ditch?" Edward asked hopefully.

"I can't."

"Don't go."

"You're being clingy," Bella pointed out, fighting a smile.

"Don't go, ever," Edward said teasingly and Bella rolled her eyes. She kissed him again and he didn't let go of her mouth, making her squirm and laugh.

"You guys know you're in public, right?"

Bella pulled back and glanced at Angela. "Actually, you two keep going at it like that," Angela continued. "That way, it gives me a chance to steal your dog." She mimed putting Hugsy in her purse, and he yipped in protest.

"We're not going at it," Bella muttered, holding out her hands. "And give me back my dog. You're scaring him."

"If I were to film the two of you, I'd be able to sell it and make a ton of cash."

"You're a weird lady," Bella told her and Angela just shrugged as she passed Hugsy back. "Bye Hugsy," Bella said, scratching him between the ears. "See you soon, okay? You too," she added to Edward, squeezing his arm and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye."

"Bye. Seriously though, don't go," Edward added jokingly, taking Hugsy.

Bella grinned, shaking her head. "Bye Edward."

"Bye Bella."

"Bye Edward, bye Bella," Angela mimicked in a high pitched voice and then linked arms with Bella, moving her to cross the street. "Good Lord, I can't with the two of you."

Bella pulled a face and managed to wave at Edward before she was forced to look forward by Angela.

"Before I ask for details about how this happened," Angela remarked as they walked away. "Can I just reiterate that I told you so? Because I did. I love it when I'm right. It's like a sixth sense, knowing these things. Maybe I should write a book about it," she mused as they walked through the entrance of the school and up the steps to the main building. "And then dedicate it to you and Edward once I'm done."

"You're a weird lady," Bella said again and they reached the top of the steps. Angela held open the door for her and Bella glanced back at Edward, who's still in the same spot they left him. She smiled and lifted her hand in a wave and Edward held up Hugsy's paw and waved with it.

"Hot guy holding a puppy. Oy," Angela hunched over slightly, placing a hand on her lower stomach. "I think my ovaries just exploded," Bella laughed and Angela added with a smile, "I liked what you did just then."

"What did I do?" Bella asked.

"You looked back at him."

"Oh," Bella said in realization and then grinned widely, feeling profoundly happy. "Yeah…I guess I did."

**\\-\\**

_Bella passes off Hug in my arms and says goodbye to him and then kisses my cheek, saying goodbye to me too.  
><em>

"_You know Hug," I say to him, holding him back against my chest, as both Bella and Angela cross the street. "If this were one of those romantic, swoony movies, we'd have this moment were she'd look back before she walks through those doors and it'll mean that she really loves me."_

_Hug makes a sound that sounds like a combination of a bark and a snuffle, kind of like he's laughing at me._

"_What, I'm not allowed to watch those kinds of movies?" I mutter. "You're a dog. You don't get to judge me on the movies I like to watch. And anyway, that kind of stuff never happens in real life, so…"_

_I trail off because not only am I talking to a dog in the middle of a busy sidewalk, but because Bella actually _does_ look back. She and Angela are at the top of the stairs and Bella glances over to me and waves._

"_Never mind," I say and lift Hug's paw, waving with it. "Guess she really does love me."_

_Bella laughs when Angela makes some weird movement with her hand on her stomach (she really is a weird lady) before she says something else to make Bella look at me again. She smiles and it's just about the best thing ever. It makes me want to get out my phone to call her and say more words. More than what I did back at the gallery. _

_Can you hear me, Bella Swan?_

_You were my first real friend, the first person I really knew, who knew me too. So it doesn't surprise me that I want to say to you the very same things you said to me._

_I love you. _

_Thank you._

_Because of you, things are better._

* * *

><p>So, that's it - just an epilogue left to post.<p>

Thank you so much for reading Like Crazy, telling people to read it, alerting it and for telling me your thoughts on it. Care to leave me some more?

**souplover9 **is so fine, that if you threw her in the air, she'd turn into sunshine.

**Next chapter: Your standard, run of the mill Twific epilogue.**


	14. Want to get some coffee? Sure, where?

_**It is a risk to love.**_

_**What if it doesn't work out?**_

_**Ah, but what if it does.**_

~ Peter McWilliams

**\\-\\**

"Hello?"

"Edward, hi. It's Bella."

"Hey Bella," I reply, glancing around the restaurant, trying to spot her. "We're at the table on the side."

"Uh, no, sorry. We're not there yet," she says sheepishly. "We're the last ones, aren't we?"

"Yeah. You kinda are."

Bella winces. "Crap. We're stuck in traffic but we're not far. I just called to say that we'll be there in about twenty minutes and you can all start ordering ahead of us, if you want."

"That's okay. We'll wait for you guys," I tell her. "If you want, you can tell me your drink order and that way they'll be here by the time you guys arrive."

"Yeah, good idea. Can we get…" she trails off and I can hear both Emmett and Rosalie murmur in the background, "a house white, a Jack and Coke, and a pitcher of beer?"

"Sure. See you soon."

"Was that Bella?" Tanya asks as I hang up and signal the waiter.

"Yeah. She said she, Rosalie and Emmett are running late and that we can order, if we want," I say. The waiter arrives and I reiterate the order of drinks Bella said to me.

"She's not even running that late." Jasper muses. "That's polite of her to call ahead like that."

Alice nods in agreement. "I like Bella. She seemed really nice, when I met her at my birthday party."

"You remember Bella?" I prompt her and she glares because I can't ask a simple question without her getting pissy at me.

"Yes," Alice grits out. "I remember her."

"Well, Bella might not remember _you_. Maybe, just so you can jog her memory, you can knock back that drink you've got and then vomit against the wall here."

"Why don't you do everyone a favor and go play in traffic or something, Gingerhead," Alice quips back, sneering.

I try to remember why we're like this. I don't know why or how it started, or even if we've had a pleasant conversation before. It's not a hate thing, I don't hate Alice, it's just how we talk. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who started it though.

Bella, Rosalie and Emmett arrive five minutes after their drinks are served, and there's a lot of noise from us as we all greet each other, particularly from the girls saying how cute their shoes/jacket/handbag are. Bella sits opposite of Tanya and me, and she passes around the drinks I ordered for them.

The others start talking, opening up the menus and discussing what to order and I turn to Bella to ask her about how Pudge is doing. She's filled up her glass of beer and takes a sip and I wait for her to put the glass down before I talk. Except she doesn't and keeps drinking…

And drinking. And drinking. She takes big gulps and her eyes dart in my direction, and I start to say something, thinking that she's going to stop, but she keeps going. She tips the glass back, finishing it and I laugh as it sets down with a loud 'thunk.'

"Thirsty?" I ask, jokingly. I'm amused, but also a little in awe, because holy shit, that pint glass is pretty big and she just drowned it in less than thirty seconds.

"Sorry," Bella gasps out, slightly out of breath. "I'm not much of a drinker, but I've had a shocking week," she refills her glass, and then eyes my own glass of Coke. "You're not drinking?"

I'm the only one at the table that doesn't have an alcoholic drink. "I'm not much of a drinker either."

"Oh, okay," she remarks with a shrug and leaves it at that, for which I'm grateful. Alice only invited Bella and her friends tonight to say thank you for coming to her birthday the other week. I probably won't even see her again after tonight. It's not like we're going to best friends forever or anything so telling her my life story would be unnecessary.

The night continues on and I notice that we're all paired off with someone, except Bella. She doesn't seem to care about being an additional wheel or being surrounded by couples and if she does, she makes a good job of covering it up. She doesn't keep to herself the whole night, but she's not talking off everyone's ear, like I'm used to Alice doing all the damn time.

"It's definitely better to watch it on a bigger screen than at home on say, your laptop or on TV," Bella's says with a shrug. "In my opinion, anyway."

"Oh yeah, of course," I respond in agreement. We're talking about zombie films from the seventies and eighties. We _were_ talking about Bella's teaching job, which then turned into her telling us about dissecting a pig's eye in one of her classes. But because we're eating, it quickly turned into talking about movies and then turned into what kind we liked to watch. I had just learned that Bella's movies were on par with what I liked to watch.

"I think they're doing a marathon next month," Bella muses, taking a bite of her food and then frowns, chewing. "Somewhere."

"Yeah?" I ask interestedly. "I would want to go to that."

Bella nods. "Yeah, me too, except I can't remember where. I think midtown somewhere, but I'm not sure."

I take a bite of my own food, cutting up another piece. "Well, when you find out the details, let me know so we can go together."

There's no answer from her and I glance up from my plate to see her giving me a look with raised eyebrows. She looks to my right and I see Tanya regarding me with an amused expression and I realize then what I just said.

"Not as a date," I blurt out, shaking my head. "I meant that we should go to the movies. Together. As friends, and not on a date," they're laughing at my awkwardness and I huff, feeling stupid. "I'm not asking you out," I say to Bella. "I'm not asking her out," I then say to Tanya.

They're still laughing and to shut myself up, I shove some food into my mouth.

"I should hope you're not asking her out," Tanya says, still amused.

"Yeah," Bella agrees with a chuckle. "Because doing that while sitting right next to your girlfriend wouldn't be weird at all."

"What are you guys laughing at?" Alice chimes in.

"Edward," Tanya answers teasingly and then kisses my cheek. "He and Bella are going to watch a movie about zombies."

"Together. But as friends," Bella adds in a mocking tone, smiling and I grimace. "And not on a date."

"Why can't you watch normal genre movies like everyone else, Bella?" Rosalie states in dry amusement and Bella just shrugs. "How your obsession started with watching movies about dead people rising from the dead and eating _other_ people, I'll never know."

"At least it's not as bad her baby-animal obsession," Emmett adds in, side-eying Bella.

Bella gives him a droll look. "Please don't."

"Baby animal obsession?" Tanya repeats in interest. "Like, the stuffed toy kind?"

"No, baby animals as in, kittens and puppies," Emmett says. "You know how there are tweeny boppers?" he prompts us with a smirk and Bella looks exasperated. "And how they jump up and down, squealing and get all excited to the point where you think they're going to pass out?" we all nod, glancing between Emmett's amused face and Bella's annoyed one. "Well, imagine a whole crowd full of squealing, excited fan girls –" he points at Bella. "But coming out of her."

"I act nothing like that!" Bella protests loudly as we all laugh. "Not even close!"

"Bella, I've seen you get all squeal-y and shit over a giraffe. A _giraffe_," Emmett repeats with flat look.

"You got all tweeny bopper over a giraffe?" Alice asks her, chuckling. "Really?"

"It was a baby giraffe and he was stumbling after his mom on its gangly legs. It was cute," we all snicker and Bella glares at us. "It _was_," she insists. "Screw all of you."

"Bella has really odd obsessions," Rosalie states, ticking them off her hand. "All things science, baby animals, zombie movies –"

"And _Friends_," Emmett adds with an eye roll. "Bella's won competitions with her knowledge about that stupid show."

"It's not stupid," I ague defensively and he rolls his eyes. "It was one of the best shows on TV during the 90s."

"Right? Thank you," Bella remarks pointedly and I hold my fist out to her and she laughs as we bump. "It had some really great one liners."

"_Pivot! Pivot!"_

"Shut up! Shut uuppppp!" Bella finishes, imitating the same voice and facial expression Chandler makes and it cracks me up. "The 'unagi' episode is a good one too."

"Danger! Danger!"

"Ahh, salmon skin roll."

Bella and I go back and forth, randomly quoting episodes.

"You can't take the cushions! The cushions are the essence of the chair!"

"I'm Chandler, could I _be_ wearing any more clothes?"

"You threw away my sandwich? MY SANDWICH?

"No bunny at all! Always no bunny at all!"

"That is brand new information!"

"It's an electric drill! You don't get me, you kill me!"

"Ah, love. L-O-V-E love. 'L' is for life. I mean, what is life without love?"

"'O' is for OH WOW!'V' is for this very surprising turn of events which I am *still* fine with by the way –"

"EEE! Is for how extreeemeely normal I find it that you two are together–"

"My FAJITAS!"

"I'm sorry, it must be the pressure of entertaining."

"There is something wrong with the left phalange."

"Oh my God, this plane doesn't even HAVE a phalange!"

"WE WERE ON A BREAK!"

"The camera adds ten pounds!"

"Wow, so how many cameras are actually on you?"

"Smelly cat, smel-ly cat, what are they feeding you?"

"Smelly cat, smel-ly cat, it's not your fau –"

"Okay, enough!" Rosalie cuts in, exasperated and the others voice their annoyance as well. "We get it! You both know way more about a TV show than normal. But could you shut the hell up? People are starting to stare."

"Sorry. We'll stop now," Bella tells her and I nod in agreement. We eat in silence for about ten seconds before she blurts out, "he's a trans – transponster!"

"That's not even a word!"

Everyone at the table groans as Bella and I collapse into laughter. I change my mind; maybe having Bella as a friend wouldn't be the worst thing after all.

**\\-\\**

"Hello?"

I feel her poke my side and I force my eyes open. "I'm awake."

"Okay. Just checking," Bella says and I feel her shift on the bed.

After I told her I broke up with Tanya, Bella and I didn't speak for about a month. Which I feel bad about, because I know we're technically friends now, but I haven't really spoken to anyone for the past month. I've been busy wallowing over Tanya. But I think I had every right to. She was the first girl to look _at _me, not straight through to the other side.

Bella and I went to brunch with her mom the other week, and have since started hanging out a little. She called me this morning asking if I wanted to come over and just hang out at her place. I said yes. When I got to her place, I found out that she eats junk food like crazy and eats it solely out of bowls, and that her television is in the bedroom.

Bella and I are lounging on her bed. She's sitting up against the headboard and I'm on my back staring at her ceiling– well, I was before I started getting sleepy. A bag of Doritos, a huge bowl of gourmet chocolates sit between us, and empty cans of Coke adorn the nightstands beside both of us. We just finished watching season five of _Friends_. I've been here awhile and I should go, but her bed is ridiculously comfortable so I can't really muster the motivation to get up.

Bella pokes me again. "Don't fall asleep in my bed."

"I'm not," I finally sit up, which I haven't done for nearly an hour. The sugar rushes to my head and I sit still for a moment, watching a commercial where a kid is eating a doughnut, until it clears. "I feel like doughnuts."

"Yeah? I haven't eaten a doughnut in a while," Bella points the remote at her TV, flicking through channels and she keeps her gaze at the screen. "I think the last doughnut I had was the powdery kind with the jam in the middle."

"I like the mini ones better. That way, you can put one on each finger and still hold a cup of coffee," she laughs once, shaking her head at me. "We should get some doughnuts. There's a Krispy Kreme one point eight miles from your place," I add, glancing out her window.

"That's…specific."

"And you can smell the place point eight of a mile from the subway."

"That's even more specific. And also weird," Bella gives me an odd look. "How do you even know that?"

I shrug. "I don't know, I just do. I know random distance information about food joints around the city."

"Every food place or just Krispy Kreme's?"

"I don't know about every food place, but most of them, yeah. I can tell you how long it'll take to get there and stuff."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. How far is the nearest Starbucks from here?" she prompts me. "In blocks."

I scoff. "That's easy. Four."

"That was quick. And also right," she nods, looking mildly impressed. "Hold on. I'll give you something harder," she leans across me, grabbing her phone from her nightstand. Her breasts graze against my chest and I want to make some sort of joke about getting hard and her breasts, but I keep my mouth shut.

"Okay," Bella says, tapping away on her phone. "Where is…the nearest Dennys from here?"

"In miles?" she nods. "Six point two."

"What's the fastest way of getting there? Cab or subway?"

"Subway," I shake my head. "You call that hard?"

"Okay, fine," she taps away and then looks triumphant. "Alright, say I just flew in from somewhere and I just landed at JFK. I have a Max Brenner craving and I have it _bad_. So bad, that I will cut people who will get in my way to get to my waffles," she emphasizes mockingly and I laugh. "Give me the distance between them, how long it'll take to get there, and the quickest way."

Shit, that is hard. I stall, opening up another chocolate and popping it into my mouth as I think. Bella watches me expectantly while I mentally calculate.

"Can I get a hint?" I ask, because there are two routes in my head and I'm trying to figure out the fasted one.

"Well, according to Google Maps, it says driving is the fastest way," she tells me. I was actually going to go with taking the subway, but okay. She continues. "Which I don't think is true because this doesn't take traffic and weather conditions into account, but whatever."

"Okay," I declare, crumpling up the chocolate wrapper and decide to just go with the driving times. "The distance is just less than eighteen miles if you drive and take the 1-678. And it'll take you about…half an hour to get there on a good traffic day."

"Damn," Bella remarks with a laugh. "What you just told me is all written here on Google Maps – sixteen point eight miles, driving directions starting with the 1-678 and distance time as twenty eight minutes. That's pretty cool that you can do that all in your head."

"Not really," I assure her. "It's actually kinda dorky and lame."

"You're like a search engine," she says, amused. "But with food. The food version of Google," she suddenly snaps her fingers and points at me, grinning. "Foogle! You're Foogle."

"That's not a word. Or a even a thing."

"It is now. Foogle," Bella repeats, nodding adamantly. "That's your new nickname."

"No," I say firmly. "No nicknames. I hate nicknames."

"Too bad, so sad. It's your new nickname now."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"I can go all night with this you know," I tell her.

"So can I," she counters with a smirk. "I'm around pre-pubescent teenage boys, six hours a day, five days a week. Believe me when I say that I have more than enough patience to fight this out with you."

"Fine, I'll let you call me Foogle if you take off your shirt."

I don't really know why I just said that. It only slipped out because we're joking around and I said it in a kind of backward, compliment kind of way because she does have a great rack. Bella is stunned for a moment, staring at me with her mouth slightly open before she shoves my shoulder.

"I'm not taking off my shirt!" she cries out indignantly, but she's laughing.

"What? It's a fair trade," I insist innocently.

"You're so weird," she mutters and then gets off the bed, slipping on her shoes. "Come on. I'll buy you a five fingered doughnut and some coffee from one point eight miles away."

"Doughnuts over breasts. That's a better trade."

"Is it though?" she muses and I shake my head.

"Nah. Breasts are always the first choice."

"You really need to stop talking about breasts."

"Never."

**\\-\\**

"Hello?"

"You disappeared."

She doesn't sound accusing or anything, more concerned.

"Yeah…" I trail off, rubbing my eyes with my forefinger and thumb. "I went for a walk. Needed some air," I say lamely and drop my hand to my lap and the noise startles Hug sitting at my feet.

"At two am?" More concern.

"Yeah. I'll be home soon," I assure her. "I'm not far."

"Alright," Bella murmurs. "Bye."

I hang up and press the edge of my phone against my forehead, staring at the ground.

"Come on. Lets go home," I say to Hug, and push myself off the bench. He gets up, trotting along side of me as we walk.

I hadn't gone very far before Bella called. Maybe two, three blocks before I reached a park and was sitting on a bench. A minute later, Hug and I turn onto the street where Bella and I now live on. The ritztiness of this part of town is amazing, with its huge houses sitting on square, perfect lawns with clipped hedges and lit up flower beds. The house Bella and I are in isn't huge, but it is unnecessarily large for an unmarried couple with no kids and a dog.

The only reason why we have this house is because of the money. Maymay Platt told me about a trust fund account that everyone in the Masen family has and that there was one in my father's name, but has since been frozen by the family lawyers so he can't use the money on his 'habits.' Maymay Platt had a meeting with the lawyers and a condition of the fund is that, if the person it is originally entitled to can't use it, it can be passed down to another family member – me. I told her I didn't want the money.

About a week after that, I went to withdraw money from the ATM and noticed that my bank account had increased to a six figure amount, nudging close to seven figure territory. I don't even want know _how_ Maymay Platt got my bank account details. I got angry about the money, which upset MayMay Platt. I think she's feeling guilty over the whole 'bribing social workers' issue.

So I reluctantly accepted the money, but gave most of it away. I anonymously donated more than half to 'The Sanctuary House.' With what was remaining, Bella and I managed to put a deposit on this house, plus buy all the furnishings to go in it.

We even have all the things we once joked about: the large living room with a widescreen television, the master bedroom with a walk in closet, plus a porch swing. Bella wouldn't let me buy the traditional porch swing, but we comprised and got a modern one. It's large, and in the shape of a hollowed out egg. It's big enough for two people, can swing and sits on our back porch, which is good enough for me.

I arrive back home a couple of minutes later, going through the side fence to the back. Bella's waiting for us, sitting on said porch swing. I unclip Hug's leash and he bounds toward her, jumping up on her lap. She giggles, scratching him behind the ears.

"Hey boy," she coos as I sit next to her on the swing, draping my arm across her shoulders. "Did you have a good late-night walk?"

Hug pants in response, his tongue lolling out. I move the swing forward and back with my feet, and Bella lifts her legs up, wrapping them underneath her, leaning against my side.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want some chocolate?" Bella asks out of nowhere, making me laugh.

"What?"

I feel her shrug her shoulders against me. "I feel like some."

"I could go for some ice-cream, actually," I say, now that we're talking about food.

"Okay," Bella wriggles herself out of my embrace and gets up from the swing and places Hug next to me. "I'll be right back."

"What are you –" I start to say, but she's already inside the house. I hear her banging around in the kitchen for a minute before she returns. In her hands, Bella juggles a huge bowl with vanilla ice cream, a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup, a saucer and a can of whipped cream.

There's a small table in front of us and Bella places everything on it. She upends the bottle of chocolate onto the ice cream and then the whipped cream.

"That is way too much," I tell her, watching the whipped cream get higher and higher on top of the ice cream.

"I don't care," she says and then stops and pulls the saucer toward her. She adds more whipped cream on it and I frown in confusion until she pats the chair opposite us, looking at Hug.

"You spoil him too much," I mutter as Hug jumps from the swing next to me to the chair and buries his face into the saucer.

"Easy, or you'll make yourself sick," Bella directs at Hug, who is noisily lapping away. "And I don't spoil him," she adds, picking up the bowl of ice cream. She walks over and sits sideways across my lap, the bowl in her hands.

"You do," I counter as she wraps one arm around my neck as I put my hands on her waist to hold her steady. "Haven't you noticed he's getting –"

"Don't say fat."

" –_heavy_ around the middle."

"I just said, don't say fat!" Bella says, huffing at me. She digs a large spoonful of ice cream, chocolate, and cream. "Is that why you took him for a walk at two am?" she asks casually and hovers the spoon near my mouth.

I take the spoon and mumble around the ice cream in my mouth. "No."

I don't say anything more.

I don't say that living here is strange for me. I don't say that even though I was miles away from where we are now when I used to live here, living in this part of town is weird. I don't say that having the Porsche sitting in the garage is alone worth three, maybe four times as much as the single, wide mobile home I used to live in is weird. I don't tell her that today I read in the paper about a fire across town in an apartment complex I used to live in and the article mentioned the people that died. I don't tell her that I knew two of them, a girl and her boyfriend. I don't tell her that the girl had nubs for hands from a meth-cooking explosion but she was still a user and used to grip a tiny silver spoon between her paw like hands while her boyfriend held the lighter underneath.

I don't say that being back here in California permanently makes me both angry and scared. I don't tell her that sometimes I get a feeling in my chest like I can't breathe, like a giant fist squeezing and that feeling is what makes me angry and scared. I don't tell her that this tight fist squeezing is what used to keep me running toward anything I could to loosen it, to leave this world and go somewhere upside down. I don't tell her that I woke up an hour ago and had a thought that I could just get out of bed, get in the car and within an hour I'd find someplace and be able to get myself a line, a shot, pills, anything and that will make the feelings stop. I don't tell her that I only went for a walk to get away from myself.

"Want to talk about it?" Bella asks gently, taking a bite of ice cream.

I sigh, leaning back in the swing and she offers me a new spoonful. "Not really, no."

Bella's smart so I know she knows that I have days like this. I know that she's read about being in recovery and sobriety, talked to other people about it and that days like this are rare, but they do happen. I know that she knows not to push me because she's not the right person I should be talking about this to.

When you're in rehab, the world feels as small as the thin layer of air touching your skin. All that exists is your almost-dead body and the pain inside your head. There is no tomorrow or a few days from now. There is no career or family or any loved ones.

There is only now and the burning nerves in your head, the ache in your chest, the molten lava in your stomach, the emptiness, the need, the desperation, and the fear.

_The fear._

That this pain is all you'll feel for the rest of your life. When your world is so small, the only option is to be selfish.

I forget that there's no need to be selfish anymore, now that I'm with Bella. On these bad days, I push her away and can be cold, distant and reactive. The extraordinary thing about it is that she'll stay, unmoving and stubborn and I wish, I _wish _I could have the same patience as she does. Being with someone like me is not easy and it comes with its fair share of challenges but she never gives up and never holds a single grudge. Not once. Not ever.

I love Bella and I'm crazy about her, but some stories are meant to stay private. Just because you find love, doesn't make your life perfect.

We sit like that for a minute, eating and listening to Hug's loud slurping for noise as he licks the plate clean.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Bella questions suddenly.

Tomorrow's Thursday and we both have work. "Uh, work?" I say pointedly.

"Let's do something. Together."

I frown because I know she has important discussion meetings with her research group on Thursdays. "Don't you have a meeting tomorrow?"

"Yeah. But I can miss one," She shrugs, taking another bite. "We can go for a drive somewhere. Santa Monica or I don't know…San Diego. Go to Sea World or something."

I grin as she takes another bite of ice cream. "Yeah?"

Bella grins back. "Yeah. Why not?" She then forces a big heap of ice cream into my mouth.

"Mmmph," I chew and grimace, because it's too much. "Ouch. Brain freeze."

I lean back in the swing again and let my eyes slide shut, fighting the pressure in my head.

I feel her brush against my mouth, carefully and when I open my eyes, I'm staring into her eyes. I close them again and kiss her.

Being sober is not great. Not at the start anyway. It's filled with cliché's like 'One day at a time' and 'It gets better' and rules and steps that you have to follow. It makes you think, is this it? This is sobriety? When do I feel content about those cliché's? Because I don't feel it. I'm five years sober and like today, I still feel like I'm locked up and that I've lost control over everything. If this is recovery, I don't want it. If this is sobriety, I'd like my drugs back, thank you very much. I didn't care that I was alone and that I could've died, because it didn't matter.

But then you meet someone, and you matter to them. There's something about knowing Bella, something about her seeing me and paying attention to how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking, something about mattering to her–it can get you to think that maybe I cared what happened to me too.

It may not seem like it, but it's enough. Enough that I deserve to be sober. That I deserve to have everything I want in life. Even when it can be hard to believe sometimes or when I think I'm not good enough or I've screwed up too bad to deserve anything good, I know that I deserve to be happy, because Bella's one of the best people I've ever known, and it's enough.

**\\-\\**

"Good afternoon, LAX Car Service, this is Gianna. How may I help you?"

"Hi Gianna," I answer, walking through the busy marketplace, trying to keep an eye out for Bella. "This is Edward Masen. I'd like to request a car service pick up for Tuesday afternoon, around two o clock."

"Certainly sir," Gianna replies and I hear some clicking from a keyboard at her end. "Can I get your flight details please?"

I relay the flight details and provide her with all the other necessary information while still walking. We're in Madrid and it's our second last day here. Bella and I have been here a week and done all the sightseeing, partying and eating that's possible, and Bella's just realized that she needs to buy gifts and souvenirs for people back home. So she wants to spend all of today and most of tomorrow shopping before we fly back to LA.

It was my job to find an Internet café, Google a car service company and call for a pickup from the airport, then meet Bella back at the marketplace in an hour. Except this marketplace is pretty big and I think I might be lost. Which sucks, because this means that I'll have to ask for help and I don't want to do that. My Spanish is so bad that whenever I try to say some basic words, the locals have a hard time keeping a straight face.

I'm starting to think I've been walking in circles, because I'm pretty sure I've walked past that spice stall before, when I finally spot Bella in front of a jewelry stall a few feet away.

"Hey," she greets me when I'm at her side and eyes what's in my hand. "Again with the churros?" she asks warily. "Aren't you sick of them yet?"

While looking for Bella, I had stopped at a street vendor and bought some. "As if I could ever get sick of these things," I say in mock indignation. "They're _really_ yummy."

Bella laughs once and then lifts something that may be a bracelet or a necklace, I can't tell. "What do you think? Pretty?"

"Yeah, it's nice," I tell her and she regards the jewelry thoughtfully. "Who's it for?"

"I'm thinking Alice might like it."

"Oh, then you can't get her that. You need to get Alice something that's irritating and will generally annoy anyone that's around her. You know, like she is?"

Bella makes that face at me like she thinks I need a throttling. "Alice is only irritating and annoying to you," she points out and then rummages in her purse. "I'm getting this for her. Give me a minute while I barter down the price a little."

Bella turns to the woman behind the stall, presumably the owner and begins talking in Spanish to her. They banter back and forth lightly, with the stall owner _not_ laughing in her face because Bella's Spanish is (somewhat annoyingly) fluent and flaw free.

As the two of them haggle, some children spill into the back of the stall behind the woman and from their looks, they seem to be her kids. Black hair, complexions like creamy coffee, brown eyes so dark you can't see the pupils. They cluster close to the woman, but don't interrupt their mother, who is still bartering with Bella. In addition to being well behaved for a bunch of kids under the age of ten, they are impeccably dressed. Even the next-to-littlest, a guy who might be all of four, wears pressed shorts, a belt and a shirt neatly tucked in.

The boy with the belt stands next to his mother and is looking at Bella while his mother talks. Bella notices and smiles, making him bury his face into his mother's hip. I hear him whisper to her.

"_Si, es muy bonita_," the mother replies quietly. I know that 'bonita' is Spanish for 'pretty' because I've been hearing men call Bella that within an hour of leaving the airport in Madrid.

Bella says something to the boy that makes him squeal. He runs away from his mother, and she and Bella both laugh. Bella finally produces some money and the lady only takes half of what Bella has in her hand. There's some cheerful conversation as the lady wraps up the jewelry before handing it to Bella.

"What was all that about?" I ask her when we've walked away. I take her shopping bag and then her hand. "With the little boy. What did you say to him?"

"Oh, that," Bella grins, linking her arm through mine and leaning against me as we walk. "He said that I was pretty and I told him that he can be my boyfriend because I like younger men," she says and then laughs. "I don't think he knew that I could speak Spanish, that's why he ran."

"Did you really say that to him?" she nods and I laugh. "Bella, that's mean."

"I know, but he was so cute with his little belt and shirt tucked in," Bella remarks adoringly and I chuckle. "I told his mom that he was cute. She asked how long we've been married and how many kids we have. I told her that we don't have any kids and she said that she has a few we can borrow if we liked."

"Did you tell her that we're not married?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Are you kidding?" Bella gives me an incredulous look and points to the shopping bag. "That kiss ass comment about her kid got me that bracelet for half the price. If I told her we weren't married, she might have charged me full price, maybe more just for living in sin with you."

I laugh and kiss the top of her head. The rest of the day is spent walking around the marketplace, buying things but the marriage comment has made me think. It's not until we're back in our hotel room an hour later that I bring it up again.

"Before, when you said that you didn't correct that lady in the marketplace about us being married," I begin and Bella hums from across our room to let me know she's listening. "Were you…that wasn't a hint – was it?" I ask hesitantly.

"Hint about what?" Bella asks distractedly, too engrossed with looking at her shopping from today.

"About, um, marriage," I tug at my hair, grimacing at how awkward I sound.

"Marriage to who?"

"To the waiter that served us lunch today," I deadpan and she laughs. "Who do you think?"

"Well, that guy _did_ have awesome hair," Bella teases and I laugh in spite of myself because he was actually wearing a very obvious toupee.

"So?" I prompt her, turning serious again. "Was it a hint about getting married?"

"To the toupee waiter?"

"Ugh, Bel-la," I whine and she laughs as I fall on my back against the bed I'm sitting on.

"Sorry, but I'm kind of enjoying how painful having this conversation is for you," Bella says casually and I feel the bed dip slightly as she lies next to me.

"It genuinely is really painful," I say to the ceiling.

There's a moment of silence before Bella speaks again. "Okay. If I'm being honest, yes I have thought about marrying you," she says quietly. "And don't judge me, but I made a pros and cons list about it."

"No judgment from me. I already know how nerdy you are, so you making lists is kind of a given," Bella tsks in annoyance at me and I add, "that list must've had some pretty bad things in the 'cons' list about me for you not have brought up marriage before now, right?"

"I wouldn't say badly," Bella remarks musingly. "Just longer than the pro list. And nothing in the con list was about you, by the way."

I frown, turning my head to the side to face her. Bella's lying on her side, her hands folded under her face, watching me. "_Nothing_ on the con list was about me? At all?"

"Nope, nothing. I'm serious, there wasn't anything about you," she insists at the skeptical look I give her.

"Well, then what _was_ on the list?"

"Stupid things. Most of them superficial and dumb," she replies and lifts up my arm, curling up against my side and starts fiddling with the front of my shirt. "One of the things I put on the list was the name. I didn't like the way 'Doctor Isabella Masen' sounded."

"You wouldn't have to change your name for me," I tell her and she smiles warmly.

"I know. That was one of the pro's," she kisses my cheek. "I knew you wouldn't force me into changing it."

"What else did you have listed?" I press her. "I still don't believe you when you say there wasn't anything about me on it. There has to be _something_."

"There really wasn't," Bella assures. "I told you, the list was mainly made up of dumb, superficial stuff. Like the fact that I can't really pull of wearing white, and between Rosalie and Alice, who I would choose to be my maid of honor."

"Are those things really cons though?" She looks at me questionably and I continue. "Who says you have to wear white on your wedding day? You wear a lot of blue; just get a blue wedding dress. And _why_ are you even thinking about having Alice as your maid of honor? Who says she'd get an invite?"

"Yeah, okay. Let's invite Jasper to the wedding and not Alice and see how that works out for us," Bella retorts and then shoves my shoulder, looking indignant. "And I'm not getting married in a _blue _wedding dress, stupid. I'd look like a blueberry. Or a Smurf."

"Blueberries are delicious and I did have a thing for Smurfette when I was younger. Just saying."

"Your logic will never not be odd to be," Bella mutters. "I already know how you feel about marriage," she adds, moving her arm across my torso. "You'd just want to do it for the cake. Right?"

"That's not true."

"It isn't?"

"Fine. It's partly true," I shrug. "I don't know. Weddings to guys are just one big party. You give two hundred of the closest people you know, a free meal, and some cake. There's dancing and then by the end of it all you have is some paperwork and a ring."

"That's true," she agrees. "How would you even wear a ring?" she asks and takes my left hand, running her thumb over my finger piercings.

"I wouldn't. I'd have to wear it on a chain around my neck or something."

"Well, that's pointless then," she says and continues holding my hand, now interlocking our fingers. "So, I don't want to get married," she remarks. "And _you_ don't want to get married, so I guess that means we're not getting married…right?"

"If neither of us wants to, then no, I guess not."

"Okay."

"Okay," I echo and then exhale briefly, feeling a lot better. "Are we done talking about this now?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Good, because now I want cake. Preferably with blueberries on it," Bella laughs as I sit up on the bed, bringing her up with me.

"You're an idiot," Bella says with a chuckle. "But yeah, we probably should get some dinner." She starts getting up and is still holding my hand and I tug on it gently.

"Hey," She stops and turns to me. "What did you with that list?"

"Shredded it," she answers and shrugs one shoulder. "I realized that it didn't matter whether it was a pro or a con being Mrs. Edward Masen. All I care about is being with you. Always."

I lean forward and kiss her, slow and unhurried. She breaks the kiss first, sets her forehead against mine for a moment and pulls back, but I hold her there again.

"I'll always care about you too," I stroke some hair away from her face. "You know why?"

Bella looks wary. "This is the part where you say some stupid line, isn't it?"

"You're ruining the moment," I tell her, frowning. "And it's a good line. Promise."

"Fine. Why will you always care, Edward?" she asks monotonously.

"Because you're my lobster."

I grin as Bella laughs loudly. Maybe we'll never get married, but that's okay because no matter how serious life gets, you gotta have that one person you can be completely stupid with; Bella is that person for me, because I'm never going to _stop_ being stupid.

"I love that you just said that," she holds my face close, grinning also and then kisses me again. "But you're still an idiot."

**\\-\\**

"Hello?"

"It's annoying that this house is so huge, I have to call to find you."

She laughs. "I'm at the pool."

I sigh, making my way to the back of the house. "You're going to have to be more specific. There are two pools here."

"I'm at the main pool. The big one, by the guest house."

I end the call, pocketing my phone and step outside.

Bella and I are in Wisconsin, at MayMay Platt's for a week-long break, to get out of the city. MayMay Platt had a gap in her dog training work and made plans for a seven day cruise around the Caribbean with her friends from bridge, so she asked if we wanted to house sit her estate while she was gone. Estate meaning, a library, kitchen, an outdoor kitchen, a home theatre room, dining room, living room, exercise room, card room, pantry, and a laundry to ourselves. And that's just the first floor; there are another two floors, plus a basement to the house, and outside has two guesthouses and two pools.

If I thought our house back in California was big, it has nothing on this place.

I finally reach the main pool by the guesthouse and let myself in through the gate. Bella's sitting cross legged on a sun lounge on raised platform in front of the pool, wearing a loose white t shirt and red short swim shorts. Thick volume books and a stack of stapled papers are next to her on the lounge and she has a book in her hand. I let out a long exhale, as I approach her.

"Those papers better not be what I think they are," I call out and Bella's head snaps up from her reading.

She grimaces at me, now standing in front of her. "Um, it's not?"

"Yes it is," I snatch up a page that has her university crest on it and give her an incredulous look.

"Yeah, okay, it's work," she mutters in defeat and I notice Hug bounding around after a butterfly on a wide space of grass on the left side of the pool.

"How did you even bring all that here?" I ask as she shuffles around some of the papers to make room for me, placing them on the side table next to the lounge. "I saw you pack."

"Wrapped it inside the clothes in my suitcase," she answers and I roll my eyes, sitting next to her. I shift, stretching on my back across the lounge and put my head in Bella's lap.

"You know you've got issues when you go on vacation and bring a calculator with you," I say dryly, pointing to the one Bella has in her hand above my head.

"We're not on vacation. Nobody _vacations_ in Wisconsin," Bella remarks distractedly, her eyes on the papers on the table. "We're just house sitting in the summer."

"Bella, can you just –"

"I'm nearly finished," she cuts in hurriedly, already knowing what I was about to say. "I've just got this last section to complete and then I'll be done."

"Alright, fine," I murmur, as Bella's fingers begin to run through my hair. The sun, the light breeze that's just picked up and the rhythm of her hands in my hair, are making me drowsy. "Wake me up when you finish."

"I will."

I drift of into a light sleep, waking up a short time later. I blink a couple of times and I know I haven't been asleep long, maybe fifteen minutes because the sun hasn't moved much in the sky. My head is still Bella's lap and she has her thinking face on. The corner of her lip is sucked in, her fingers curled and pressed to her mouth and eyes staring intently some pages in her hand.

"You're still not done, are you?"

She starts at the sound of my voice and then raps me on the forehead with her calculator. "You scared me. And no, I'm not done," Bella adds, looking wary as I sit up straight. "This synthesis I'm working on includes a mathematical equation and I can't seem to get it right."

I lean over, looking at the page where she has a bunch of numbers and letters scrawled around a bunch of text. "So, for you to get this number, you need to do this add these numbers here and subtracting them from the total of the first answer?" I ask, like I know what I'm talking about.

"Well, that's just the start of it and I need to work out the entire equation, but yeah. That's what I need."

"Pass me your calculator," She hands it to me and I glance between the page and the calculator, punching numbers in, Bella watching me closely. I hand the calculator back to her. "Here – is this the answer?"

"_58,008_," she reads out and then frowns, shaking her head. "No, that number is way too big."

"Try looking at it this way," I reach over and turn the calculator upside down.

"_Boobs_," Bella reads out automatically and I laugh. "Dammit," she says, shaking her head at me but she looks amused. "Boobs? Really Edward?"

"They're the answer to everything," I tease and she bumps my shoulder, tsking at me. "I can't believe you didn't figure that one out. It's like, the first thing you learn when you get given a calculator in school. That, and the woman with the sixty nine pound boobs joke."

"The what?"

"You don't know that joke? What were you doing with your calculators at school?"

"We were doing _math_," Bella says pointedly.

"Oh right. For about two seconds, I forgot you were a nerd."

Bella glares at me and her hand darts out before I can stop it and she pulls at the skin at my arm and twists.

"Ow, ow!" I grab her hand, laughing. "Okay! Sorry, I'm sorry. Here, I'll show you the joke so you can at least pretend to be one of the cool kids," she tsks at me again and I continue.

"A woman's breasts weighed sixty nine pounds,"

I enter '69' in the calculator.

"Which she thought was to, to, to much,"

I add the number '2' three times next to '69.'

"So she went to fifty first street,"

I press 52.

"To see Doctor X,"

Then hit the multiply key.

"So he gave her eight pills, and now she's…"

I type in '8' and then total the number up and flip the calculator upside down, showing her.

"_Boobless_," Bella reads out in with wry amusement and I grin. "That is the lamest and stupidest thing ever."

"Actually, when you're in third grade, it's the funniest and best thing ever," I toss the calculator over on the table and stretch my arms up, staring at the pool. "We haven't been in the pool since we got here."

"You go in," Bella says, picking up the papers and calculator again. "I'll join you once I figure this out."

"No, let's go in now."

"Later."

"Now."

"Later."

"Now."

"Later."

"Okay. That's it," I get up from the lounge and take the papers and calculator out of Bella's hands quickly.

"Hey, I'm not –" she cuts off with a small shriek as I pick her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders.

"What are you doing? Edward, what are you doing?" Bella repeats frantically, scratching my shoulders as I walk.

"Going for a swim and taking you with me," I say casually and she starts kicking her legs and protesting incessantly as I get nearer to the edge.

"Nonono! Edward, you can't throw me in–no, stop! _Stop! _I mean it! Don't throw me in–put me down NOW!"

"No, I don't think so," I say, now at the edge and then feign throwing her in. She freaks, letting out a scream so loud, birds in the tree near us fly away.

"Holy shit, Bella," I laugh as she continues to struggle. "Please, scream louder. I don't think people in Texas heard you."

"OHMYGOD, Edward, put me down!" I'm still laughing, when she yells, "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM!"

Whoa. That makes me stop and I put her back down quickly. Once her feet touch the ground, Bella shoves my chest hard, making me stumble back.

"Shit, Bella, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," I say quickly, stepping forward and putting my hands on her shoulders, trying to catch her eye. She has her head down, her hair covering her face so I can't see it but I hear her sniff and now I feel really idiotic. "That was stupid– _I'm_ really stupid, I shouldn't have done that."

"Yeah, you are stupid," Bella says quietly and then glances up at me and I see that she hasn't been crying at all. "Because I can't believe you fell for that."

She gives me a hard shove again and her laughter is the last thing I hear before I hit the water.

The chlorinated water stings my nose and plugs into my ears. My eyes are still open underwater to see Bella also dive in. Air pockets form in my shirt and I kick off the bottom of the tiled floor, surfacing at the same time as her.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" Bella repeats, this time grinning and she splashes me.

"You can swim," I say dumbly, blinking water out of my eyes.

"Of course I can swim. You know that, you've seen me do it. How many beaches have we been to?" Bella replies with a laugh and I watch her lean back slightly and she disappears, doing a handstand underwater.

"Showoff," I mutter, splashing her when she resurfaces. "It's different at the beach. You only ever go into the ocean up to here and splash around," I argue, making a hand gesture to my stomach but I feel like an idiot again. I _did_ know she knew how to swim. She drags me to the beaches near our house back in California all the time.

"You should've seen your face," she floats over to me and wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. She kisses me, water streaming from her hair, running down both our faces. "Next time I fool you, I'll take a photo and give it to MayMay Platt to blow up and make one of her artworks with it."

"You're really proud of yourself for this, aren't you?"

"Yup," she grins. Moving my hands under her shirt, she shivers as I press them against her back. Her skin feels warm against my palms. "Getting you back on all the stuff you've done to me is usually a big win."

"That's not a big win," I tell her. "Me racing you to the end of the pool and winning is a big win."

She grins and without warning, lunges toward the end of the pool. I grab her calf and yank her back.

"Cheater!" She yells as I laugh, moving ahead of her but I don't get far.

She catches my foot and pounces, pushing me underwater. She tries to swim away again before I manage to wrap my arms around her hips and lift her into the air. She manages one short scream before I toss her over my shoulder.

She bursts up from the water, laughing and spitting. I grab her around the waist and she bites my shoulder. She tries to escape, but neither of us can swim, we're laughing so hard. The water shifts, knocking us together, pulling us apart.

I feel my back hit the edge of the pool and I move, gripping Bella under her arms and lift her out of the water, until she's sitting on the side. I climb out after her and kiss her so hard she shoves me away, laughing.

"Crazy," She says.

"What is?"

"You," Bella answers and falls back. She pulls me with her, hands running over my chest and back. "And me," she adds. "For being crazy in love with you."

"Yeah," I nudge my nose against hers. "I crazy love you too."

If you're lucky, you find someone you love and they'll love you back. But when the person you fall for is your best friend and they decide to love you back? Then that doesn't make you just lucky, it makes you the luckiest person on this entire planet.

**THE END.**

* * *

><p>I'd like to thank:<p>

**WhatsMyNomDePlume** - if _she _didn't exist and didn't get the idea to write 'The Best I Ever Had' then _this_ story wouldn't exist either. So, um, thanks for existing?

**souplover9** - for being my first fandom friend. For putting up her hand to beta this. For the support, critiques and hilarity while she did it. For which I am, truly, humbled and grateful.

and you guys. Thank you very much for reading Like Crazy. You made my first attempt at fanfic a hundred, thousand times more fun than I ever thought it would be :)

I crazy love you all, big time.

_Will xoxo_


	15. Shame on you! Ugly baby judges you!

**We are all a little weird and**

**Life's a little weird, **

**And when we find someone whose**

**Weirdness is compatible with ours,**

**We join up with them and fall in**

**Mutual weirdness and call it Love.**

~ Dr. Seuss

**\\-\\**

**_Outtake_**

**Sunday, 4:43pm**

"Hello?"

"Huh?"

"I said, look at the baby in the top left hand corner."

"Oh, sorry. I was having a staring competition with the third baby in the bottom row. And you made me lose, Angela," Edward added teasingly. "Thanks a lot."

Angela laughed. "Sorry."

"Are you sure it's okay for us to be here?" Bella stated suddenly. "Isn't this area only supposed to be for parents and close family or something?"

"Bella, it's fine," Edward replied. He was hugging her from behind, and he squeezed her gently. "Carlisle said we could wait for him to get to the hospital while Esme slept."

"Yeah, calm your tits, Bella," Angela added with a scoff. "Plus, your boyfriend made quite the impression on the ladies at the reception desk. With his piercings and tattoos and leather jacket and tight –"

"_Okay_. Thanks, Ang," Bella muttered. Angela snickered and Edward kissed the top of her head reassuringly.

Edward, Bella and Angela were in the maternity ward at the hospital, in the baby viewing area. Angela was in L.A for the weekend for a three-day conference as a representative of the school, Bella's previous place of work. It was a Sunday afternoon and Angela was about to have dinner with Edward and Bella when they decided to go see Esme and Carlisle's newborn baby for the first time. They were early; Carlisle had left to go home and shower and Esme was resting.

"And anyway," Angela continued. "If anyone should feel weird about being here, it's me. I don't even know these people, and I'm crashing in on your baby viewing."

It was Bella's turn to reassure Angela. "Esme and Carlisle won't mind. Just, you know," Bella added, looking at Angela sideways. "Make sure you behave yourself."

"Behave myself?" Angela repeated in amusement, giving Bella a pointed look. "Well, _excuse me_ Doctor Swan. Need I remind you who you used to work for?"

"Yeah, _used_ to," Bella shot back with a mocking sneer. "It's not like I need a reason to be nice to you now."

"If you ladies want to continue this fight without shirts on, that's fine by me," Edward chimed in. "Just give me a minute to go get some Jell-O."

"Shouldn't take you long in this place," Bella joked and Angela snorted.

"So. Out of all these babies," Edward began, resting his chin on Bella's shoulder. "Which do you think is the least cutest?"

"What kind of question is that? All babies are cute," Angela told him. But after a moments pause, she added, "but that baby in the third row, fourth down from the top, with the nose? Wow, what an unfortunate childhood that kid is gonna have."

"Uh, Ang," Bella said hesitatingly. "That's Esme and Carlisle's baby."

"Oh God. Are you serious?" Angela questioned meekly. Both Edward and Bella nodded, grimacing slightly. "Shit. Please don't tell them I said that," she begged. "That was really awful of me to say, and its nose isn't really _that_ bad –"

"Just kidding!" Bella cut in brightly. "That's not their baby."

"Yeah," Edward added. "My cousin's baby is the one in the last row, second one from the bottom."

"Son of a bitch," Angela muttered as Edward and Bella laughed. "Go get lots of plastic surgery work and die!"

"What?" Edward prompted her, amused and Bella snorted.

"I don't know. You live in L.A," Angela muttered. "Everyone is so plastic and fake here."

Edward and Bella laughed, Edward burying his face in Bella's neck to muffle his laughter. His lips pressed against her neck, and she squirmed, giggling. But then she jerked and let out a low shriek.

"Ugh, just get a room already," Angela stated in exasperation, rolling her eyes.

"No." Bella stepped away from Edward and shivered, laughing lightly. "Edward's phone vibrated against my back."

"Carlisle just got here," Edward announced, reading off his phone. "He said that it's okay for us to go up and see Esme now."

"Great, let's go," Bella said excitedly. She picked up the huge bouquet of flowers at her feet and pushed it into Edward's hands.

Angela sniggered at the look on his face. "Just remember that you _really _love her. It'll make things easier," she told him teasingly.

"Yeah," Edward sighed, shifting the arrangement so he could see in front of him as he walked.

**\\-\\**

"Oh. It's a….duck?"

"Be glad she chose the duck," Edward said under his breath to Carlisle, setting the flowers on the side table in the hospital room. "There was a bumblebee twice this size in the store that Bella wanted to get for you guys."

"Bigger than this?" Carlisle eyed the bright yellow duck dubiously. It was huge, about the size of a stereo system. It had flowers on its back and a 'Congratulations!' balloon stuck in its side.

"Yes," Edward emphasized with a nod. "It took me twenty minutes to convince her not to spend eight hundred dollars on a bumblebee flower arrangement and pointed out the duck as a compromise. What is my life?" he muttered and Carlisle laughed, clapping him on the back.

They turned back to the ladies, where Bella had just finished introducing Angela to Esme.

"How are you feeling?" Bella asked her. She and Angela were standing by the baby's crib, the nurse having just brought him in from the viewing room.

"I'm good," Esme replied, with a small smile, shifting slightly. "A little tired and the stiches are starting to irritate me. But I'm okay."

"How much does he weigh?" Angela asked.

"Seven pounds, four ounces," Carlisle answered, sitting next to Esme on the bed.

"I have no idea whether or not that's a good weight," Angela admitted with a shrug. "I've just heard people ask that about newborn babies, so I thought I would too."

Everyone laughed but then fell silent as the baby stirred slightly, but remained asleep.

"He is _so_ beautiful you guys, oh my God," Bella gushed.

"You can hold him if you like," Esme told her.

"I don't know. He might kill me with his cuteness," Bella joked but picked the baby up carefully anyway. "Hey, handsome," she cooed when the baby fussed a little as Bella maneuvered him in her arms. She sat down on the couch in the room, and Edward moved to sit next to her. "His cheeks are so squooshy!" she added, gushingly, running a thumb over his cheek. "I could just eat him up!"

"He's not one of those chocolate babies, Bella. He's the real deal," Edward teased and Bella clicked her tongue at him, but kept her eyes on the baby. "Hey, little man." Edward leaned over, touching the baby's hand. The baby curled his tiny fingers around Edward's finger, holding it there.

"Gah, okay. I'm dead. It's killed me," Bella declared and Edward laughed, shaking the baby's hand gently. "This kid is going to be such a life ruiner for me, I swear."

"Any plans for a baby in your guys' future?" Esme asked.

Bella and Edward both gaped openly at Esme for a moment before answering her.

"Us? With one of these?" Bella responded incredulously, glancing at the baby. "No. Absolutely not. No way –"

"Yeah, never gonna happen," Edward chimed in, shaking his head. "No, no and no. Nope. Nah uh –"

"So, that's no, then?" Carlisle asked in amusement and everyone laughed.

"Have you chosen a name yet?" Angela questioned. She sat in a chair in between the hospital bed with Esme and Carlisle and Edward and Bella on the couch.

"We _were_ thinking of Hugsy," Esme stated and frowned mockingly. "But that's already taken."

"You guys can have that name if you want," Edward told them seriously.

"No! That's our name," Bella said defensively and everyone chuckled with Edward rolling his eyes. "You can name your kid something like that though. Like…Hugglalump."

"Why are you the worst in naming things?" Edward questioned. "Why? I don't get it."

Bella ignored him. "Or Huggy Bear. Yeah! You should _totally _call him Huggy Bear!"

Everyone laughed and Carlisle tested it out. "Huggy Bear Cullen."

"We'll add it to the list," Esme joked.

"Well, if you choose not to go with it, _I'll_ call him that." Bella glanced down at the baby and put on a voice. "Wittle Huggy Bwear Cullen."

Edward winced. "Oh God. It's the cute-sy voice. I hate that voice," he muttered.

"We're your Aunty Bwella and Uncle Edward. And we wuv yew! Yes we do!"

"I'm breaking up with you," Edward muttered.

Angela, Esme and Carlisle started talking amongst themselves while Edward and Bella kept their attention on the baby. Bella shifted the baby in her arms so that he was sitting directly in front of her.

"Okay, so," she began. "Because we're your aunt and uncle, it means that if you ever need anything, you can come to us. For example, if your parents say you can't have anymore chocolate – we'll have some for you."

"Right," Edward agreed. "And that's not just limited to chocolate. If you ever want more ice cream or a doughnut or a brownie or whatever - we'll give it you. I mean, you might have to fight me for it," he added and Bella laughed. "But if you catch me on a good day, I _might_ give it to you."

"And if you're having trouble at school, maybe with school work or people are being mean to you," Bella said softly, adjusting the baby's blue knit cap on its head. "We'll be here if you need someone to talk to."

"Yeah, and if there's a hot girl in your class that you need advice on." Edward tapped his chest. "You can come to me for that."

"No, don't go to him. He's an idiot," Bella told the baby and Edward scoffed. "You need girl advice, you come to _me_."

"Yeah, okay. We'll see who he goes to," Edward remarked coolly. Bella rolled her eyes, and he continued talking to the baby. "And if you ever need to sneak out of the house to go see a band in concert that your parents won't let you see or sneak out and meet up with a girl, _we'll _help cover for you."

Bella glanced at Edward, giving him a pointed look. "We will?"

"Okay," Edward said and then amended it. "Bella and I will go away and discuss that point further and get back to you on a later date."

Bella laughed and glanced back at the baby. "And when you're old enough, we'll take you to see a Lakers game, and we'll let you eat as many hotdogs as you want."

"You mean, we'll take him to see a _Dodgers_ game and let him eat as many hotdogs as he wants," Edward corrected her with a laugh.

"No," Bella said slowly. "I said we'll take him to a Lakers game. Why would we take him to see the Dodgers play?"

"Why would we take him to see the _Lakers_ play?" Edward retorted.

"We're not taking him to see the Dodgers," Bella argued. "Because baseball is stupid. All you do is a hit a ball and stand around eating sunflower seeds. How exciting," she said dryly.

Edward bristled. "It _is_ exciting. You try hitting a ball at nighty eight miles an hour. Baseball is about planning and strategy –"

"Yes, I know all about the _strategy _of baseball," Bella cut in mockingly. "It only took you about three hours to explain it to me. And what a very riveting three hours that was."

Edward narrowed his eyes at Bella. "We're not getting him into basketball."

"We're not getting him into baseball," Bella countered back in a low voice.

"Yes, we are."

"No, we're not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Hey, if you guys ever need parenting practice," Angela told Esme and Carlisle. "You know who to turn to." She nodded at Edward and Bella, who continued bickering.

Esme and Carlisle laughed. "Yeah, them freaking out about having a baby is making a bit more sense now," Carlisle noted in amusement.

"Now that I think about it, I can't really see Edward and Bella having kids of their own," Esme mused. "I mean, they're really great and nice people. But together, they can be….it's like they're…" she trailed off, trying to think of the right words.

"Like they're in a couple bubble?" Angela prompted.

"Yes, exactly. In a couple bubble," Esme agreed with a firm nod and Carlisle hummed in agreement too. Edward and Bella had moved on from their argument with Bella now telling Edward to take out his phone so she could have some photos with the baby.

"They really are cute together though," Esme said, smiling as Edward held his phone out at arms length, taking a photo of the three of them.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Angela agreed. "Like today, when they picked me up from my hotel, and we were walking to their car," she began telling Esme and Carlisle. "I noticed that Edward made sure he walked on the street side of the footpath and that Bella was on the inside beside him."

"Really? That is _so_ sweet," Esme said gushingly. "And very old school chivalry. I remember my grandfather doing that for my grandmother when he was alive."

Carlisle snorted. "Wow. I had no idea Edward was a ninety year old man."

"You guys know we're sitting here and can hear you, right?" Bella piped up, giving Esme, Angela, and Carlisle a wry glance. "It's not like you guys are in a cone of silence."

"Yeah, and I'm not ninety years old because that walking street side thing is not really chivalry," Edward said to them. "It's just me keeping Bella safe from her sworn enemies – the bus system."

"I hate you," Bella muttered, scowling.

Edward grinned and bumped her shoulder. It jolted Bella's arm, causing the sleeping baby in her arms to move slightly. Edward and Bella froze as the baby's face screwed up. It took a moment of him squirming and fussing before he opened his mouth and let out a loud wail.

"Edward! Look what you did," Bella admonished, shifting the crying baby.

"Me? What did I do?" Edward stated with wide eyes. "He's probably just upset because he heard that you wanted to take him to a Lakers game."

"Or maybe he's just hungry," Esme said teasingly, gesturing to Bella.

Bella shot Edward a dirty look before passing the baby to Esme and a nurse came in to help her. Edward, Bella and Angela took it as their cue to leave. Goodbyes were called over the baby's cries that had now reached shrieking level, and Esme and Carlisle invited Bella over to see the baby again once they get home.

"Did you hear that?" Bella said to Edward, the three of them now waiting for the elevator to arrive. "They said we could go visit them! You know what that means?"

"Yeah," Edward replied, taking out his phone. "It means I have to make more memory in my phone so you can take five hundred photos of the baby."

"No, not that. But that's a good idea, actually," she added and then shook her head. "No, what I meant was going back to that gift shop so we can buy the bumblebee for them!" she declared happily.

"Ah, shit," Edward muttered as Angela laughed loudly.

**\\-\\**

"Hey, Bella."

"Yeah?"

"What would you give me if I get this jellybean in your cleavage?"

"A concussion."

Edward threw the red jellybean anyway but it missed, hitting Bella on the arm.

"Damn," Edward muttered and fished out another jellybean, trying again.

"Ah! Will you stop?" Bella remarked in frustration, as the jellybean hit the cabinet next to her and landed on the countertop. She picked it up, and threw it back at him. He caught it one-handed and ate it. "You're making a mess, and if Hugsy comes in and eats one, it won't be good."

Edward and Bella were back in their home now and it was late, nearly midnight. They had just finished having dinner with Angela and were about to go to bed.

"It's fine. He can have them," Edward said, popping a few beans into his mouth. "It's not like they're chocolate."

"No, but they are made from synthetic dyes and are full of sugar," Bella retorted, patting Jeggings the hamster as she changed the water in his cage. "Not good for dogs."

Edward grinned in response and whistled. "Hug! Come here, boy."

"What are you doing?" Bella demanded. The Border Collie scampered into the kitchen, his paws skittering across the floorboards. "No. _Don't_ give him any jellybeans, Edward," she added quickly.

"I just wanna see what happens," Edward told her, tipping the packet of jellybeans into his hand. He crouched down and held out his palm to the dog. "Hey boy, you wanna try something?"

"No, Hugsy. Don't," Bella said sharply as Hugsy approached Edward cautiously.

"Don't listen to her," Edward said to him, as Hugsy glanced at Bella. "If you want to eat some jellybeans, you should decide for yourself."

"You're an idiot," Bella told Edward, laughing, moving toward them. She picked up Hugsy and hugged him. "Hugsy, go to sleep."

Edward sighed as she put him down, and Hugsy walked off toward his dog bed in the corner of the kitchen. "You're no fun, Doctor Swan," he said and threw the jellybeans meant for Hugsy at her body instead.

Bella bristled and snatched the packet out of Edward's hand. She hurled it across the kitchen, and it landed with a thump next to their microwave.

"Well, that was unnecessary," Edward muttered, staring at the packet.

"Don't throw jellybeans at me," Bella told him and pummeled his chest. Edward blocked her and she let out a shriek as he picked her up and sat her on the counter.

"I was only looking for something to eat off Barnes and Noble," Edward said, his face buried in her chest.

Bella groaned and shook her head. "No. God, that's awful."

"What? I've eaten stuff off you before. I didn't hear you complaining when I was eating fudge off you last week."

"Not that," Bella remarked in exasperation. She slid her hands in his hair and moved his face up to hers. "'Barnes and Noble'. Really? And I'm the one that sucks at giving names? Also, we're not doing that fudge thing again," she added, grimacing. "That got really messy."

"It was fun though," Edward teased, kissing her long and slow.

"Hey, idiot. I love you," Bella said when they separated.

Edward kissed her forehead, inhaling her citrus shampoo. "Love you more."

"How much more?" Bella asked teasingly.

"Um…enough to drink a glass of fat for you," Edward replied and he turned around, bending over slightly. Bella wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against his back, her feet kicking in the air as he walked.

Bella laughed and switched off the kitchen light as they passed it. "Wow. I think that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me."

"Oh, I have way more romantic one liners than that," Edward said, going upstairs, past the kissing photograph by MayMay Platt that hung against the wall on their staircase.

"I know you do," Bella said with a sigh, switching more lights off as they went. "I haven't heard any of them in a while. But god, they were so silly and corny–"

"You are my sunshine on a rainy day."

"What? No." Bella tugged on his ear. "Just because I said 'I haven't heard any in a while' doesn't mean I want to."

"Your lips look lonely. Would they like to meet mine?"

"Well, that's more of a pick-up line. A _bad_ one at that."

"You're a whole lot of lovely."

Bella opened her mouth to protest but then hesitated. "Okay. That one is kinda nice," she admitted reluctantly and then added quickly, "but that still doesn't mean –"

"I will love you till apples grow on mango trees on the thirtieth of February."

Bella sighed. "And now you're back to being stupid."

Now in their bedroom, Edward stood with their bed to his back and Bella let go of him, standing on it. "All right," he said, turning around to face her. "I've got a line that you'll like."

"Doubtful," Bella replied, bouncing lightly up and down on the bed.

"If I were an enzyme, I'd be DNA helicase. That way I could unzip your genes."

"Holy shit." Bella stopped bouncing and stared at him. "That line was _science_ related."

"I know," Edward responded, looking smug. "How awesome am I?"

"How do you do that?"

"What, be awesome?"

"No," Bella emphasized and thumped his chest. "All the time I think I can never love you more than I already do. And then you do something or say something, and I love you more than ever. Like just now. Like now, with the science line. How is it possible? How can you love someone more and more and at the same time, all the time, love them as much as it's possible to love someone?"

Edward frowned. "Is that…a rhetorical question?"

"I'm just saying that – you know, it's just –" Bella cut off, exhaling. She shrugged. "I don't know what I'm saying."

"Your mom rang this morning," Edward stated suddenly. "And do you know what she said to me?"

"Wow. Could you _be _anymore random?"

"Nice," Edward said appreciatively and they fist bumped. "Anyway," he continued. "When I answered, Renee said, 'Wow, you're still together?'"

Bella scowled. "God, Renee can be such a motherfu –"

"I _like _that," Edward interjected and laughed at Bella's flat expression. "I _like_ that people are surprised that we're still together. I like that we're the couple that were friends and became something more. I like that we actually _wor__k_ being together, even though we shouldn't. I like that we're that 'weird' couple."

"What?" Bella said, indignant. "We are not a weird couple."

"Uh, yeah. We are," he replied pointedly.

"Prove it," she demanded stubbornly.

Edward let out a small sigh. Bella had her hair down, with a section pulled back, and he reached out and unpinned it.

"We're Edward and Bella. Bella and Edward," he started saying, trailing his fingers over her collarbones, into the hollow of her throat. "We're the couple that aren't married and live in a five bedroom house and have a dog and a hamster instead of kids of our own. We're the couple that slow dances on our back porch when it rains. We're the couple that if we're walking someplace and you complain about your shoes hurting your feet, I give you my own shoes to wear and walk around in my socks."

Bella's eyes were wide and her voice was unsteady. "I did think that was a little weird when you did that. I was just expecting you to carry me on your back."

Edward's arms went around her waist, and he moved close and kissed her eyelids. Each one, lightly. His mouth moved to her left temple, her cheek, her neck. Bella willed her lips to be patient and inhaled and exhaled forcefully.

"I never want to stop falling in love with you, Bella." Edward's hands were on her neck, and he could feel her pulse beating in her throat. He moved his mouth across her jawline and felt it speed up. "And I want to be able to look beside me and have you next to me, anywhere life decides to take me. I love you so much."

As much as Bella was enjoying the buildup, the payoff always outweighed it. "Are you done?"

"Yeah. I'm done."

"Good."

**\\-\\**

_Bella buries her fingers in my hair and pulls my face to hers. We kiss in a way that's not too hard, but not __gentle__ either. _

_We know exactly how we fit together. Her hands on my chest. My hands under her shirt, touching the skin of Bella's back, to the clasp unfastening, to the place on her rib cage where my hand rests for a moment as we kiss deeper. _

_We have each other memorized. Bella takes a step back on the bed and lifts her shirt over her head. She lets her bra slip over her shoulders. Bella unzips my jeans and unzips her own. Bella in nothing but blue green underwear and then in nothing at all._

_And even though we know how we fit together, have each other memorized and have done this a million times, I still think she's beautiful. Always will._

_We ease back onto the bed and her lips are everywhere. My neck, the inside of my elbow, the bottom of my ribcage. I brush her hair over her shoulder, watching her kiss her way back to my mouth. _

_She straddles me and then there's this pause. She looks into my fac__e, __and I want to say something. But I feel like words aren't enough for what this is. What we have. _

_Maybe it's cliché as fuck, but I don't care. Because more than anything, all I have ever wanted is to be close to someone. More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to feel as if I wasn't alone. _

_Then she's moving above me. Arching her back. Breathing hard. Watching my face. I know exactly how and where to kiss and touch her. She sighs and I feel her muscles tense and relax in response. _

_I put my hands on Bella's hips and flip our positions. She smooths her hands down my back, arching her own, pressing into me. My lips slide down her neck, down her throa__t, __and I press my face against her chest._

_Everything I give, she returns. Again. And again. And again. Until we're both breathless and tangled against the pillows. We draw away from each other only for a moment before we're close again under the sheet._

_Bella's head is on my arm. Her leg is thrown over my leg. I trace the ridgeline of her ribcage, her hip, her thigh. She props herself up and kisses me. When I kiss her back, it feels important. It feels like life. _

_She rests her head back down on my arm and lying here right now, after everything, I fall in love with her again._

_Because it was always supposed to be me and Bella._

_Together._

_Like this._

* * *

><p>So, the reason for this outtake is two fold:<p>

**One:** I know authors say this often about their readers, but I really do have the best readers ever. Posting this was my way of saying thank you, thank you, thank you for being great and supportive about everything to do with this fic.

**Two: **I noticed that some people weren't really happy with the epilogue. So I hope this outtake was more enjoyable for them. If not, sorry I guess?

Thanks to **ExquisiteEdward **and **souplover9** for their beta thoughts on this. And your still my number one, Soupy Sep :)

I do have a new fic that I'll start posting from next week. It's called **Empty.** It's more on the serious side than **Like Crazy** was but I still hope people will be interested in reading it :)

To everyone that ever alerted, favourited, reviewed this fic - you're all personal life ruiners in my eyes.

_Will xoxo_


End file.
